Behind and Outside the Glass
by point0k
Summary: A series of drabbles related to the story The Maple, The Window, and The Butterfly. They provide some insight on the events before and after Rei and Nagisa first confess to each other in the main story. Part 2 of 'Through the Frame, I See You' (Next Door AU). I will also be updating this drabble series every day, but I return to school soon, so the pace may vary. Enjoy!
1. The Light and The Voice

Time Setting: Hazuki Nagisa, age 14 (Junior High 3rd Year, Winter)

* * *

When he got the same problem wrong for the fifth time in a row, he wondered how in the world he would pass the entrance exams at this rate.

Groaning in frustration, fourteen-year-old Hazuki Nagisa slumped down in his chair, throwing his head back with his hands clawing at his already-disheveled blonde hair. Math had never been his favorite subject, and now that it was exam season, he was just about _done_ with it—his glum burgundy eyes dropped to the wastebasket next to his desk, where all the crumpled worksheets he had tossed were overflowing. Sighing, he dropped his head on his desk, his cheek pressed against an open page in his math textbook. His eyes brushed past the notebook with his chicken-scratch version of the notes he had copied off his classmate, Komura. They then moved to the Iwatobi-chan strap attached to his cell phone.

Whenever he became particularly discouraged with his prospects of passing, or just plain sick and tired of all the pre-exam studying, Nagisa had taken to looking at that phone strap. The solemnly blank eyes of Iwatobi-chan had been enough to serve as a reminder of why exactly he was studying so hard in the first place. Well, harder than the blonde had ever studied before, anyways—considering that he had never sat still for longer than five straight minutes while studying for his math tests at school, he had to be given some credit here. Now he felt like the skin on his bottom was developing calluses—even after weeks of studying, he still wasn't used to chaining himself to a desk and poring over textbooks like this. Even now, he fought the urge to bolt from his chair and escape his room, instead trying to channel his energy into his fingers as they twiddled with the Iwatobi-chan strap.

_Hang in there, Hazuki. Think happy thoughts._ As the alter ego in his mind spoke, Nagisa continued to stare hard at Iwatobi-chan, imagining that the inner voice was wisdom coming from the stoic bird instead of his brain. _Just one more week of studying, and then it'll be over. The math might be killing you right now, but if you get through it, you'll finally be there. The place named after your favorite rock hopper penguin—the place where Haru-chan and Mako-chan are, the place where you might be able to swim with those two again after years. You can even investigate the rumor that there's an underground aquarium full of penguins beneath the gym—and even if it doesn't exist, there's still the aquarium nearby. You can go there with your new friends—or maybe even a girlfriend, if the rumored high-schooler luck rubs off on you. Everything will be all right, and everything will be better at that place. The place for your new start…_ As his mind spoke those last words, the blonde's burgundy eyes clouded over slightly. Despite his original intention, they had served as a reminder of his relatively recent past—one that he was sure he could never be proud of. Propping his chin on his desk, he returned his attention to the bird strap in his hands.

"Hey, Iwatobi-chan—do you really think I'll be able to change?" His voice was quiet as he asked the unanswering bird the question. "I…I already have changed, right? I've…I've picked myself up from the sorry mess I was in…even if half the people at school still hate me, I have at least a few friends…and at least I have a chance to start over…all I have to do is take that chance. I'm not wrong to think that way…right…?"

Maybe he was getting ahead of himself too much. Maybe he should wait and see if he actually passed the entrance exams before he started thinking about things like this. But one thing he knew for sure was that the unsure feelings in his heart felt familiar—they reminded him of the nervous, timid child he had used to be when he was younger. No, that wasn't accurate—he had been just as timid in junior high, the only difference being that he had been able to mask it better. People may have thought he was bold and fearless from his exterior demeanor, but Nagisa knew himself better—there had been more than a few times when he had been scared of change. It had been the same whenever his family moved, whenever he changed schools, and even when his mother had first signed him up for swimming lessons at the ITSC*. He had always felt nervous about taking those first steps, and even now that was true—though it was not as if he wanted to cling to his present, the truth couldn't be further from that. And yet…when he realized that he was getting too caught up with these depressing thoughts, the blonde shook his head and slapped his cheeks with the palms of his hands.

"Focus, focus!" Pulling himself back up, Nagisa scooted his chair forward and picked up his pencil once more. Thinking that maybe he should move on from that math problem for now, he went on to solve the next one. When ten minutes passed and his newly begun efforts still showed no fruition, the blonde dropped his pencil and his head plopped back onto his workbook.

"This is _impossible!"_ he muttered remorsefully, pouting—he was beginning to think none of the problems in his workbook were even solvable. "Someone _save meeeeee~~~~!_" As the last word drew itself out in his mouth, his burgundy eyes wandered from his desk to his bedroom window, only half hidden by one side of the curtains. When he saw the light on in the window of the neighboring house, Nagisa's eyes came to a stop.

"…That's right. He probably would have been able to help me." Murmuring those words, the blonde stared at the light beyond the windowpane, his mind flooding with memories from his younger days, those which included a certain blue-haired boy with violet eyes and red spectacles. Remembering how he had used to stand at that window in the lavender house, how he had used to always listen to Nagisa when he talked—it caused a feeling of nostalgia and longing in the blonde's heart.

_Oh yeah. He always used to comfort me when I was feeling like this._ He recalled the last time he had seen Rei—it had been when the blue-haired boy was leaning out the window of his living room, picking a few daisies that were growing in his front yard. He had grown some since the time he was ten, and his face had lost most of its baby fat, but other than that he had been the same as Nagisa remembered him. After he had procured the daisies, Rei had disappeared back into the house, and some time later, Nagisa had heard the sound of Mrs. Ryuugazaki's delighted voice from within its walls. The memory made Nagisa smile as his heart warmed just as it had when he had witnessed the scene. Swiveling his chair towards his bedroom window, Nagisa folded his arms on one armrest and propped his chin up on them, thinking.

He wondered what it might have been like, if his fall from the maple tree that fall had never happened. He imagined how he might have told Rei about his first day of junior high—how Rei might have comforted him once again, how he might have gotten courage from the blue-haired boy's words. No matter how many times Nagisa heard them, they never seemed to fail to cheer him up. If only that had happened…maybe he might have led a very different life during these past three years. If only…Nagisa blinked when he realized that he was on the verge of having a very selfish thought. Quickly shaking his head, he frowned at himself, not liking where his mind was going. Unconsciously, his hand traveled to the back of his head, where it rubbed the scalp underneath his hair. The scar that lay nestled under the blonde locks tingled slightly under his touch, and again he was reminded that the reason Rei had avoided him since that day was his own fault. And so was his past in junior high—he knew the blue-haired boy held no responsibility at all for the things that happened.

Now that he thought about it, maybe it was a good thing that Rei had avoided him during those years. He had been so moody, so insecure, so—so selfish…he might have ended up hurting the blue-haired boy in the end. The blonde hated to think something like that might have happened—he had already hurt enough people as it was. And even now, it had only been a few months since he finally concluded that the only way to start make amends was to mend himself first. Remembering this humbled Nagisa, and deciding that this was not the time to be wishing to change things he couldn't change, he turned his chair back towards his desk and started to redo the problem he was stuck on.

It was in that moment that he heard it.

From somewhere outside his bedroom window, a soft voice floated through the winter air. Nagisa's burgundy eyes widened when he recognized who it belonged to. Putting down the pencil, he turned his chair back towards the window and sat still, listening.

_"…Sa-i-go-wa, ka-na-ra-zu_ (In the end, for sure)…" the voice sang. _"A~i to yuu~ki de victory~!_ (With love and courage, there will be victory)."** Nagisa blinked. This song was old…maybe he had heard a different voice? But as the song continued, he could tell—it was definitely Rei's voice. The singing wasn't the best he had heard, the blonde found himself tapping his finger on the armrest of his chair as he listened. After a while, the song finished and it was quiet outside the window once more.

It didn't take a long time afterwards. The sound escaped Nagisa's lips, softly at first, then gradually gaining volume as it poured out. Collapsing back in his chair, the blonde burst out into laughter. When he realized a certain blue-haired boy might hear it, he clapped a hand over his hand, his head and shoulders falling back down on the top of his desk and quaking as he tried to stifle the sound.

_"Ahaha_—that is _so_ like him—_hahahaha!"_ Rei's voice had been almost mechanically on beat and in tune—altogether, it had been dorky and hilarious at the same time. Nagisa had even found it adorable, in a way. Wondering what Rei's music grades would have been like***, had he attended a public school, the blonde grinned as he wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes.

Then, it hit him all over again. The pang of loneliness and longing—all of a sudden, he really, really missed Rei. He didn't realize that he had missed hearing the brunette's voice so much, until he had heard it for the first time in years just now. For a moment, his eyes drooped forlornly as they stared in the direction of his bedroom window. Incidentally, they wandered from the window back to the Iwatobi-chan strap on his desk. They stared at the stoic bird for a while as a plan began to formulate in the blonde's head.

He would pass that entrance exam. He would get into Iwatobi High School. And when he was finally in his new school uniform, he would find a way to see Rei again. If he could get into that high school, despite his struggle with math, despite the past that weighed him down, despite his fears about starting over—then surely, certainly, he could make it happen. He _would_ make it happen—besides an apology, there were so many things that the blonde wanted to relay to his long-separated friend. And no matter what, he had to say thank you. For the strawberry candies, for the daisies, and for everything before and after. Once he decided this, the blonde made a fist pump in the air, his face glowing with a new determination.

"All right! Let's get to work, Hazuki!" With that, he once again returned to studying for the exam. As he scribbled down calculations with his pencil, he found himself humming the song that Rei had been singing, with the fingers on his left hand tapping out an accompanying beat. He finished solving his problem just as the snow began to fall outside, blanketing the bare, elegant branches of the maple tree outside the window. Little did he know that he would see the brunette sooner than he thought. And when he did, Nagisa was 200% positive that it was fate.

Needless to say, the blonde was also extremely delighted when he heard Rei singing a certain love song at karaoke on a summer day much, much later. And when the brunette indignantly demanded to know why he was laughing, it only made Nagisa laugh harder until he was coughing and gasping for breath.

* * *

**Footnotes**

*Abbreviation of 'Iwatobi Swimming Club', where Nagisa first met Haru and Makoto and Rin when he was ten and first swam a relay with them.

**The song is called _"Ai to Yuuki de Katsu!"_ (Win with Love and Courage). It came out in the drama part of Rei and Nagisa's duet CD, where Rei mentioned the song as one he knew from listening to his father's radio and sang a part of it. This cracked me up when I heard it, so I ended up putting it in this drabble as well XD

***One of the official character settings about Rei is that art and music are his worst subjects. Although he seems to sing perfectly fine to me, from the character CD's I have listened to, I thought it might be funny and kind of cute if he sang in this mechanical voice (I can see him calculating the pitch of his voice and mathematically matching the lyrics to the beat xD Rei is such a dork). I guess that rather than him being tone-deaf, I imagine his voice to be a little stiff due to all his reliance on theory and calculations. This is just my idea for the setting in this story though, so I hope you understand!

**End Notes**

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing a bit of middle school Nagisa's thoughts in this drabble. For those of you who want to see some events after the confession in the main story, worry not! The next drabble will deal with a future event involving both Nagisa and Rei ;)


	2. Daisies, In-Laws, and Miracles

**Notes**

If you don't remember the particular Ryuugazaki or the particular Hazuki that this chapter mentions, click on the links for The Ryuugazakis and The Hazukis that are on my profile. Enjoy! :)

...

Time Setting: Hazuki Nagisa, age 17/ Ryuugazaki Rei, age 17 (High School 3rd Year, Summer)

* * *

From the start, Ryuugazaki Ryouji had never liked Hazuki Nadeko.

What the third Hazuki sister was like at home and what she was like at school were two totally different things. The version at home, whose voice Ryouji had often heard from next door during his junior high years, was chatty and nosy and prone to mischief like dressing up her little brother in dresses and dolling the poor kid up with makeup with her other two sisters. The version at school acted more composed and mature, smiling pleasant smiles and exchanging polite greetings with her classmates like she had been born a real _yamato nadeshiko_*. To be frank, Ryouji didn't like either of those versions—the first being too noisy and annoying and the second coming off a little too fake for his taste. Of course, it was not as if his own disposition didn't change once he stepped past the school gates—but as was mentioned previously, it was a matter of personal taste. Maybe it was because _nadeshiko_ girls weren't really his type—he personally liked them a little feisty, or at least with a curvier body, and had Hazuki Naomi been younger, he might have made a move on _that_ 'girl next door'. But as it turned out, he and Naomi-san were far apart enough in age that they never went to the same school at the same time, so they never really crossed paths.

So instead, Ryouji spent his junior high days going through more than his fair share of girlfriends and making Hazuki Nadeko his enemy. The former happened without him putting in any effort, because his star success on the basketball team at school (after he joined the track team for a short time and then quit because the track team wasn't really strong at Sanada Middle School), his excellent grades, his good looks, and his breezily social personality all came to him naturally, and the girls just followed as a result, although he hadn't been trying to attract any. The latter might have been partly his fault, because although he and Nadeko had always ranked first and second academically in their whole grade (with the order swapping now and then), their one-sided rivalry had first been set off after Ryouji bluntly rejected a love confession from one of Nadeko's close friends.

Personally, Ryouji couldn't see what the problem had been—in his opinion, blunt rejections were better than those half-assed consolation attempts and sometimes straight-up excuses that actors always spouted in soap operas on TV, that were supposedly meant to be comforting but didn't do scratch, other than making the confessing girl feel like crap. So what if he had told her she wasn't his type (although those might not have been his exact words at the time)? All he had given her was an honest answer, and he certainly never expected that a particular blonde girl's anger would be the result of that equation. But nevertheless, that seemed to have been the cause, and ever since then they had been on bad terms, competing with each other in everything from academics to P.E. to events like the cultural festival and the sports festival. He marveled at how their classmates could think she was mature and lady-like and all that nonsense after all the PMS-ing she hit him with on a daily basis. But Ryouji knew his own personality—he was too lazy to deal with any of that head-on. So for the most part during their middle school years, he sidestepped Nadeko's temper tantrums and just did what he always did—that is, whatever he felt like doing at the time. After all, it mattered little to him who took first place in each test, or whose team outranked the other's in sports competitions. He planned to continue doing the same thing in high school, because he knew they were both moving on to Taneda High in their neighborhood.

And for a while, he had thought that Nadeko would keep up their rivalry at Taneda as well. But then, he began to notice things. Like the fact that the blonde no longer looked confident or composed or at ease. Like the fact that one day, she was no longer welcomed by her new friends in their classroom when she walked in every day. Like the fact that her grades seemed to be dropping, from the school rankings that were posted on the bulletin after exams. And of course, the fact that she no longer shot him glares or biting remarks, despite the fact that they were in the same class again. For the majority of her first year, she mainly kept to herself in class, sitting quietly at her desk, her face looking…well, not happy.

And sometimes, when he incidentally caught glances of her like this, Ryouji found himself thinking that it might be better if she took out her personality at home and put it to use in the classroom. Not her current personality at home by any means—he had heard more than enough of her screaming from within those yellow walls next door, no thanks for that—but the one during their junior high days, when she had been nosy and chatty but still comparatively cheerful and sociable. It was like they had flipped situations—he had been the moodier one at home in junior high while she had been the opposite, and while he had mellowed out at home now that he was in high school, it seemed like the blonde had become the moody one. While he heard screaming from the Hazukis' residence, he never heard any laughter or any chatty voices from it anymore. He heard bits and pieces of the conversations Mrs. Hazuki had with his mother—that her two older daughters had moved into college dorms that year, that her husband was still working abroad, that her son was also acting moody and distant. After he had heard the last part, Ryouji also realized that he had stopped overhearing his younger brother's voice talking with the blonde midget next door. So maybe, he thought, the mood was a genetic thing—or maybe it was an intra-Hazuki angst epidemic that had hit the neighborhood recently.

He didn't see Hazuki Nadeko much during his second year, since they were placed in different classes. When they were in the same class again their third year, it seemed like she had perked up a bit compared to her first year—she had a few friends that she spoke to in class, and now her whole _nadeshiko_ façade was nowhere to be seen. One day in the fall, she actually came to class looking pretty darn cheerful, for the first time in years. And back then, Ryouji wondered what miracle had happened to bring that confident smile back. He never guessed that the miracle had come in the form of two daisies that had grown in his own front yard. But despite not knowing what had happened, he…well, he guessed he should be glad for the girl. Things had been a little quiet without her obnoxious voice talking in the background, after all.

Because it was their third year of high school and one of them was an exam student without any free time while the other had already gotten accepted into college and just didn't care enough to, neither of them attempted to revive their old rivalry. Once college exams and their final high school year were over, they did not cross paths again until much later. And although Ryouji had been the tiniest bit glad that Hazuki Nadeko had moved on with her life instead of staying the zombie she had once been, he wasn't sure how to feel about the situation they were in now.

Meaning the reason as to why his and Nadeko's twenty-year-old selves were hiding behind the fence of a random house in their neighborhood that summer vacation, spying on their younger brothers as they talked to each other in front of the Ryuugazakis' residence. Meaning the reason as to why the Hazuki sister's hazel eyes were shining with delight and anticipation as she watched the two teenagers like a cat would watch a can of tuna being teasingly waved at it. Groaning quietly, Ryouji wondered how it was possible that, one minute, he had been watering the lawn in front of his house after a slightly awkward reunion with his former classmate, who had been sent out to trim the hedge in her own yard, and the next, he had been yanked off the grass by the blonde female and forced to trespass onto somebody else's yard in order to clear the area for their siblings. Hearing the groan, Nadeko promptly gave Ryouji a look and shushed him.

"Shh! They're going to hear you!" she insisted in an undertone, a finger placed over her lips. In response, Ryouji rolled his eyes.

"You've gotta be kidding me, Hazuki—they've been getting it on for a while, if you haven't already noticed," he retorted with a disgruntled but quiet voice. "So why the hell are you spying on them like they're prepubescent brats on their first date?"

"Because, I haven't seen those two in action that much!" Nadeko snapped in a low voice. "Since you've obviously forgotten, Ryuugazaki-kun, I'm in _Osaka_ for most of the year! _And_ I worked at my college for my _whole_ winter break, so I haven't been home for about _ten months! And_ Nagi-chan hasn't texted me any news or any pictures that tell me a single damn _thing_ about how their relationship is going!" She didn't mention how her sister Naomi had been forwarding her pictures and info on them instead—her private philosophy was that interesting stuff was good and _more_ interesting stuff was even better.

"Gee, I wonder _why_," Ryouji commented dryly. "I'm _sure_ it's not because you tend to stare at them like they're the hottest new gay porn out in stores." Although he himself enjoyed teasing his younger brother about his new blonde date, at least _he_ didn't go around spying on them like he was a journalist out to catch a celebrity affair. At least, not of his own volition, anyways—his current situation was an exception.

"Oh, hush!" Nadeko shot him another glare. "You wouldn't understand, you've actually been home long enough to see them around! Now shut up and let me spy on them!" She eagerly turned her attention back to Nagisa and Rei, who were having a conversation on something about swimming. Refraining from pointing out that she had actually admitted to spying on them—a real _yamato nadeshiko_ indeed—Ryouji rolled his eyes again and also turned them back towards the two teenagers. The shorter boy had somehow reverted to talking about penguins, and as he went on chatting animatedly, the taller boy watched him with a soft smile on his face that Ryouji could only describe as 'gross'. While wondering for the tenth time why he had to be watching this, the twenty-year-old wished that he had never stepped out to water his lawn in the first place. Sure it was dry and the grass was dying, but it was better than _himself_ near dying of thirst at the moment. He wished he could just walk inside his house and get some damn water down his parched throat.

"Geez, how long are they going to stand around just talking?" Nadeko's impatient voice piped up from beside Ryouji. "I mean, I find it a_dor_able that Rei-kun has that love-struck smile on his face, but come on, they're not kindergarteners! I need some action here!"

"If you need action, go get a yaoi mag from the bookstore. I'm outta here." As Ryouji attempted to stand up, Nadeko quickly jerked him back down.

"Are you insane?! They're still out there talking!" Her fiery hazel eyes glared at Ryouji's sullen violet ones. "You'd _totally_ be interrupting them!"

"Like I _give_ a damn! That's my _own house_ over there, and I'm walking in there before I die from dehydration—"

"Wait—shh!" Nadeko's eyes widened in panic. "He's coming over here!" Turing his head, Ryouji saw Nagisa cross the street and walk forward in their direction. His burgundy eyes were looking around the vicinity as if they were searching for something. They brushed over the front of the fence that was barely hiding Ryouji and Nadeko, and traveled over to a house two doors down. When he found what he was looking for, the blonde's eyes lit up. Despite Rei's yells of protests that he was trespassing on private property, Nagisa ran over to the particular house and bent down as he picked something from the unsuspecting neighbor's yard. Then, he happily trotted back to the blue-haired boy and, with a bright smile, presented the object he had picked—a single white daisy. A sparkly-eyed Nadeko and a gagging Ryouji watched as Rei began to blush red, from his cheeks to the tips of his ears and all the way down to his neck. They listened as the brunette threw a last lecturing stutter at Nagisa before he gingerly accepted the daisy from the blonde.

Beaming, the blonde boy placed a hand on Rei's shoulder and, going on tiptoe, kissed the brunette on the lips.

Ryouji had to clamp his hand over Nadeko's mouth when she nearly let out a whoop at what just happened. Struggling to hold her down, he looked out the corner of his eye and caught Rei's reaction. The very apparent blush on his brother's face had grown even darker, if that was humanly possible, and had started to spread down to the rest of his body as well. When he finally snapped out of his daze, he began to yelp out a very flustered response that included something about the blonde being rash when there might be eyes watching them in the neighborhood (well, he was right about that). When Nagisa, with a warm smile and his own cheeks tinged pink, said something back, Rei stopped in mid-sentence, his violet eyes widening. Then, he blushed even harder (Ryouji had to hand it to him, the color was way past the level of beet-red now) and started stammering incoherent words in reply. Pretty sure that he had seen enough of his sibling's love life now, Ryouji turned his eyes back to Nadeko and released his grip.

"Oh my _gosh_, Ryuugazaki-kun! Can you _believe_ it?!" As soon as her mouth was uncovered, Nadeko let these words out in a gushing voice. "They're too goddamn _adorable!_ I mean, they've been dating since the fall of _last year_, and yet, look at them! They are _beyond_ precious!"

"I thought you wanted some real action?" Ryouji commented wryly. But, he had to admit—if that hadn't been his own brother that he just saw, the sight might have been kind of cute. Only a little bit, though. He was speaking objectively here—kind of.

"You can say what you want, Ryuugazaki-kun. Nothing can kill my mood now!" Nadeko replied cheerfully. Looking up, she saw the two teenagers entering the Ryuugazakis' residence. "They've gone inside your house now—you still want to go back in there?"

"…Dammit." Ryouji sure as hell didn't want to go back in there—not right after he saw his brother and the blonde kid smooching. Wouldn't that just make his day. With his parents gone, who knew what those two were doing in there…

"If you're fine with water, I can get you some from my house." Blinking, Ryouji turned towards Nadeko, who had stood up in the yard and was patting the grass off her shorts. She looked down at the surprised brunette with a friendly smile. "I'm feeling good today, so I'll help you out this once!"

"Did you just get a stroke, Hazuki?" Ryouji asked, as he also stood up. "I remember that even on the days you felt good, you were always biting my head off." At this offhanded comment, the smile promptly dropped from Nadeko's face.

"Well, excuse you! I was _not_ biting anyone's head off!" she retorted, frowning. "And besides…" She said her next words with a casual cheer that made it seem like she was commenting on good weather. "We're going to be in-laws eventually, so we should try and get along from now on!" What she said made Ryouji choke on his spit, and he keeled over, grabbing a side of the fence and coughing violently.

_"What_ the—cough cough—_'in-laws'?!"_ When he finally regained most of his breath, Ryouji looked at the cheerful Nadeko with horrified eyes. "Over my dead body!" All his opinions of Hazuki Nagisa aside, there was no way he was going to become _related_ to this annoying blonde chick.

_"Hah?!_ Are you saying that you oppose their relationship?! How _could_ you?! You're Rei-kun's _brother!"_

"It's not _that_ I give a damn about! Those two can be however gay they want, but I'm not becoming related to _you_!"

_"What did you just say?!"_ The two bickering voices filled the neighborhood, and they only came to a stop when an old man came out from the house behind them and told them to get the hell off his lawn. As they trudged off the property and across the street, the words that Nagisa had spoken to Rei lingered in the summer air, making the atmosphere glow.

_'You're my one-and-only miracle, Rei-chan.'_

On the lawn of the house two doors down, the white daisies danced, swayed by a rare, pleasant summer breeze in the air.

* * *

**Footnotes**

*The Japanese term 'yamato nadeshiko' refers to the character of the ideal Japanese woman, who is modest, delicate and ladylike. (The term is on Wikipedia, so if you want a more thorough explanation, please visit the site. I'm sorry I can't link it here because the doc manager always kills links ;v;)

**End Notes**

I hope you liked the interaction between Nadeko and Ryouji (I have yet again done a very self-indulgent thing, because I have grown attached to their characters xD). Aside from mentions of her character, this is the first time that I gave Nadeko a significant role in the plot. And I hope you liked the interaction between Nagisa and Rei that these two older siblings saw through their eyes. :) Hope you guys also like the next drabble!


	3. Conversations at 6 AM

Time Setting: Hazuki Nagisa, age 17/Ryuugazaki Rei, age 17 (High School 3rd Year, Spring)

* * *

It was a curious situation that Rei found himself in that Friday.

Early that morning, he had been jerked awake by a loud "REI-CHAN!" that came from outside his bedroom window. Thinking Nagisa was in trouble, the brunette had immediately jumped out of bed and, without even putting on his glasses, had run over to the window, drawing the curtains aside and throwing the shutters open. When he saw the blonde at his window in the yellow house, however, he was holding a fishing pole in one hand and had an excited sparkle in his burgundy eyes, the kind that appeared when he was either cooking up some mischief in his head or when he was about to drag Rei with him to do 'something awesome!' And when his boyfriend opened his mouth, Rei found that this time, it was the latter.

"Let's go fishing, Rei-chan!" Nagisa grinned brightly as he randomly waved the fishing pole in his hand around. "With me and my dad!"

…

With auburn hair, a thin face, and hazel eyes that had a quiet glow to them, Mr. Hazuki was a man of few words—and when he did speak, his tone was always calm and mild. Unlike his more vivacious children and his cheerful wife, the man tended to fade into the background most of the time in most settings. In fact, he was not even in the background most of the time, since he was almost always working abroad. The last time Rei had seen him was in the summer of the year he turned fifteen, when he had first invited himself over to Nagisa's house as a surprise for the blonde. Now, it was the spring of the year Rei would turn seventeen, and during the week of holidays he and Nagisa had left before they would start their third year at Iwatobi High, Mr. Hazuki had flown back to Japan to spend a rare vacation period from work at home. Just yesterday, he had heard from Nagisa that his father was back and would be staying for about three weeks before he left again, for Australia this time (and had Rin been there as well, he surely would have made a crack or two, but along with Iwatobi High, Samezuka Academy had also held its graduation ceremony earlier in March, and the older boy had already taken the train to Tokyo, where he would be attending a college that was famous for its strong athletics department).

And now, for some reason, Rei was now sitting in the back seat of the Hazukis' yellow Volkswagen Beetle, with his boyfriend's head resting on one of his shoulders and his boyfriend's father driving in the front seat. When they had both climbed into the backseat, Nagisa had tried to hold Rei's hand, giving the brunette a silent look that said _'It'll be okay, Rei-chan, he won't even notice, his eyes will be on the road!'_ and Rei had promptly tugged his own hand away, shooting the blonde a look of his own that said _'There is no way I am taking that risk, Nagisa-kun, not in front of your father!'_ In the end, the blonde had grudgingly settled for leaning against Rei instead, and because he was not used to waking up so early in the morning, he had promptly fallen asleep and was now snoring softly, his cheek pressed against Rei's shoulder. Feeling an almost irrational fear that Mr. Hazuki would catch onto their relationship, that a conspicuous expression here or a shady mannerism there would clue in the perceptive man, the brunette squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, starting to sweat slightly. An hour into the car ride, when Mr. Hazuki looked in his rear mirror and met Rei's eyes, the brunette barely kept himself from averting his gaze because he knew that he might come off as rude if he did so.

"Is he asleep, Rei-kun?" As usual, the man's voice was mild as he addressed Rei, and in a lower tone that indicated he did not want to wake Nagisa. Not that the blonde woke easily, even in the face of six alarms going off all at once (Rei would know, he had been the one woken up in his lavender house instead, and only when he went over to the yellow house next door and dragged the blonde out of bed did he find out that he had set them so he could accompany Rei on his early-morning jogs around the neighborhood, and after hearing that, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at the blonde for very long).

"Ah—yes, sir," Rei replied, his own voice in an undertone. Just as he had finished responding, the blonde mumbled something in his sleep that caused the brunette's cheeks to color.

"Rei-cha…_snore_…you wanna…try on that bikini…? _Snore_…" As Rei froze next to him, Nagisa murmured some more words in his sleep. "You'll look…_snore_…totally sexy…heh…"

That was it. There were several points in his life when Rei had wanted to die, but this was the moment—he needed a miraculous death. Now. Anything to get himself out of this situation, erase this moment from the memories of every last person on earth—which only included himself and Mr. Hazuki, but regardless. Maybe, if he wished for it hard enough, he could just combust on the spot soon—his entire body was flushing hard enough for it at the moment anyways. Clapping a hand over Nagisa's mouth lest he continue to say things that would deepen Rei's own mortification, the brunette's eyes quickly swiveled back to Mr. Hazuki, his mouth gaping open and closed a few times as if his mind was searching for a plausible explanation, an excuse—anything. But before he could write the blonde's words off as a hundred percent due to the random nature of his fickle dreams, Mr. Hazuki spoke first.

"You may want to put on your seatbelt, Rei-kun. We'll be entering the highway soon." His voice showed no sign of surprise or confusion, but was still as calm as ever.

"Huh?! O-oh—yes, sir! Of course!" Yelping out a relieved response, the brunette turned his eyes towards the back seat to buckle himself up when he realized that Nagisa also didn't have his seatbelt on. Leaning over the blonde, Rei pulled out the belt from Nagisa's side of the backseat and pulled it over the smaller boy's body before clicking it into its clasp. As he did, the blonde's eyelids began fluttering slightly, until they sleepily opened a slight crack.

"Mrr…are we there yet….?" He murmured in a drowsy voice, letting out a small yawn, nuzzling his shoulders back against the cushion of his seat.

"We've just entered the highway," Mr. Hazuki replied from the front seat. "We should be there in thirty minutes."

"M'kay, Dad." Nagisa then noticed that his seatbelt was strapped over him. "That's weird, I don't remember buckling up…"

"Um…actually, Nagisa-kun, I buckled it for you just now," Rei admitted. At this, the blonde cast Rei a sleepy but affectionate smile.

"Thanks, Rei-chan." His half-lidded burgundy eyes then took on a devious look. "Want me to buckle _yours_ for you?"

_"That most certainly won't be necessary!"_ At the flustered yelp of panic that came from the brunette, Nagisa collapsed into laughter—that had made all his drowsiness go away, and for the remainder of the car ride the blonde proceeded to tease Rei to flustered shambles, despite the warning looks that the violet-eyed teen kept throwing him. Contrary to his fears, however, Mr. Hazuki did not seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, and soon, they arrived at the lake villa that had been owned by Nagisa's late grandfather. By then, Nagisa was too distracted by the prospect of fishing to keep up the teasing, and once he was out of the car he excitedly ran out towards the dock in the lake, leaving his father and Rei and to carry their belongings and equipment from the trunk to the villa.

It had only been by chance that Naomi-san, who had originally planned to come along on the trip instead, had suddenly been called into work on the morning of her day off. As all the other Hazukis either had plans of their own or were not interested in fishing, Nagisa had thought for about two seconds before he enthusiastically suggested that they take Rei in her place instead. So it was purely by chance that the violet-eyed teen had joined the Hazuki father-and-son pair at the lake villa that Friday. However, despite his previous worries, Rei actually found that he was enjoying himself. Once he was actually there, he found the scenery beautiful—the glassy lake and the small green mountains surrounding it, as well as the Hazukis' villa, which was built of dark mahogany wood and gracefully rose two stories from the grassy area near the lake's shore. There were other villas nearby in the area, as the lake itself was a public fishing ground, but there had only been two other people besides themselves, an old married couple who had smiled at them from the dock across the lake before returning to fishing quietly. Thankfully, they hadn't seemed to mind Nagisa's excited shouts and loud laughter as the blonde skipped around the top of the Hazukis' dock, waving his fishing pole around like it was a rapier and nearly hitting Rei with it several times. Trust the blonde to not be able to sit still, even when the activity he himself had suggested to the brunette _called_ for sitting still.

It was during moments like these that Rei noticed just how different Nagisa was from his father. While the blonde had proceeded to abandon his attempt at fishing and began stripping to jump into the lake instead (when Rei had been restraining the blonde with all his might, Nagisa had suddenly turned and whispered in Rei's ear that they should go skinny-dipping together, and when he heard that comment, Rei nearly dropped the blonde into the lake out of shock), Mr. Hazuki had been sitting quietly in his camping chair, his expression peaceful and his body almost perfectly still, his hands patiently holding the fishing pole as he waited. And because of his fortitude, he had caught almost all fifteen of the fish that they roasted for dinner that night—Rei had just barely caught two, and of course, Nagisa had caught none. When Rei had apologized for catching so few (not only had he not had the time to read up on fishing techniques, he had also been chasing Nagisa around and making sure the blonde didn't jump into the lake or hurt himself with the fishing pole), Mr. Hazuki had simply shook his head, his hazel eyes glowing with understanding.

"It doesn't matter how many you catch. As long as you had a good time." Again, Rei had sensed that Mr. Hazuki knew more than he let on—he was sure that to most others, it would have seemed as if he had only had a tiring time that day as he dealt with Nagisa's antics, and Mr. Hazuki had not seen his son and Rei interact very many times over the years. Despite that fact, however, the middle-aged man seemed to know, seemed to see past the disgruntled front that Rei had put up. Something about the way the man spoke, the way he carried himself, radiated a wisdom that Rei had rarely sensed from the people around him, even other adults. Perhaps that moment was when he began to develop a newfound respect for Mr. Hazuki—despite the discomfort that he sometimes felt under the man's perceptive gaze. Rei only hoped that, should the day come when Nagisa's father discovered his son's relationship with him, the man would not come to despise Rei.

Little did he know that the discovery would occur sooner than he expected.

...

On Friday night, Mr. Hazuki had gone to bed early to wake up early the next morning to catch more fish. Rei had also planned to do the same, since he was tired from the day's events. His plans had initially been thwarted when Nagisa showed up at the door of his room (at Rei's firm insistence, they were using separate bedrooms during their stay at the villa) and insisted that they talk all night long like they were at a sleepover. But they had only talked for thirty minutes when the blonde dozed off first—Rei was hardly surprised, since he had been running about everywhere all day. Carefully pulling Nagisa onto his bed, he had gently tucked the blonde in under the covers and left his bedroom, deciding he would use Nagisa's room for that night instead. It had not been long before he himself had drifted off to sleep as well.

When Rei's violet eyes opened, it was five-thirty in the morning. After squinting at the wristwatch he had removed and placed on his bedside table, he sank back in beneath his covers and tried to go back to sleep. After five minutes of lying still without the desired result, he decided that he may as well get up. He sat up on the mattress and lifted the covers off his body, his feet slipping into the slippers at the edge of the bed. Once he was in the bathroom, he washed his face and brushed his teeth, making sure to count thirty seconds as he gargled, and then flossed afterwards just in case. After changing into his day clothes and neatly combing his hair, he put on some skin lotion and sunscreen before polishing his red glasses and putting them on. He then walked down the hall, treading quietly past his room where Nagisa was still sleeping, and traveled down the stairs towards the front hall. Slipping into his sneakers in the _genkan_, he opened the front door of the villa and stepped off the porch onto the grassy area in front of it.

He had just finished with his morning stretch routine when his eyes wandered towards the dock and saw Mr. Hazuki's figure there. Just as he had done yesterday, Nagisa's father was sitting in the camping chair, fishing pole in his hands, his patient hazel eyes fixed on the lake and glowing under the early morning light. After a moment of hesitation, Rei got up from the grass and walked onto the dock.

"Good morning, sir." At his polite greeting, the auburn-haired man looked up from the lake, his eyes slowly taking Rei in.

"Good morning, Rei-kun," he replied in a mild, pleasant voice. "You are up early."

"I…I happened to wake up around thirty minutes ago," Rei explained, as he sat down on the empty folding chair next to Mr. Hazuki's. "I couldn't go back to sleep, so I came out for some fresh air."

"I see." With a slight nod, Nagisa's father turned his eyes back towards the lake. For a while, a stretch of silence lingered between the two males. Just when Rei was starting to feel slightly awkward and was racking his head for conversation topics, the auburn-haired man spoke up.

"It's been about two years since I first saw you, Rei-kun. The last time was when you came over for dinner that summer. Am I correct?" Startled by the sudden question, Rei blinked a little before responding.

"Actually sir, I was over at your house for almost the whole day. That is…Nagisa-kun had tried to invite me over several times beforehand, but that was the first time that I…that I took up his invitation. Because of that, I…I ended up staying for quite a while." Suddenly, he wondered if he hadn't been rude, joining the Hazukis for dinner when Mr. Hazuki had been back to see his family after such a long time. "I—I apologize if I was intruding on your time with your family," he added hastily. "I understand that I may have overstayed my welcome—"

"Not at all." As he said this, Mr. Hazuki's hazel eyes returned to Rei. "I feel grateful that you are getting along so well with my son. You are welcome at our house any time, vacation or no vacation." Feeling his stare, Rei gulped slightly.

"That—I hardly deserve your thanks, sir!" he said hastily. "On the contrary, Nagisa-kun is always taking care of me…I am always being supported by his cheerful personality. He…" _'He changed my whole world, sir.'_ Those were the words that had nearly escaped his lips next, but Rei caught them in the nick of time, giving a start as he did. Suddenly, he felt his cheeks start to warm, and he sat there stupidly, his mouth slightly agape and wondering what to say next.

"I'm sure it's the same for him as well." The gentle voice that came next made Rei look up from his lap. Mr. Hazuki had turned his eyes back to the lake, but they were still glowing with thoughtfulness, and, what Rei thought was affection for his son.

"I must admit, I have been a rather lacking parent. Working in the field I do means that my workplace constantly gets moved around the world, and because of that, my wife and children have had to pay the price. I couldn't be here for the days that they needed me the most—and that includes my son as well. Sometime during the years I was gone—he was not the same." Rei thought he knew when Nagisa's father was talking about. "And, being where I was, there was nothing that I could do for him. I only heard about his state from my wife, and even then I could not fly home to see him. I feared seeing the state that he would be in when I finally returned home two years ago. But when I returned—I found that he had changed, and for the better." His hazel eyes turned to look at Rei, glowing with an emotion that Rei thought was gratitude. "And once I saw you with him, I knew instantly that you had something to do with it. So I'm sure that you deserve every bit of my thanks, Rei-kun." At his words, Rei's violet eyes widened. Slowly, he began to find words to express his feelings.

"I…I'm not entirely sure that I caused Nagisa-kun to change, sir. But I know one thing for sure…and that is that he deserves my gratitude, perhaps…perhaps more than anyone else." Rei wasn't sure how much Mr. Hazuki knew about his past as a shut-in, but he continued. "He…He was the one who…who taught me how beautiful the world could be. Although I…rejected his hand over and over…he would always come through, breaking down my walls, dragging me back outside with him…Without him, sir, I would still have been trapped in the same place, alone. And now…he means the world itself to me." He felt a little embarrassed at the tears that started to prick the back of his eyes as he made this confession. Clearing his throat, he said, "Sometimes, I still wonder if I deserve to have him in my life. If I deserve a person like him."

"I know." The teen blinked his violet eyes as Mr. Hazuki spoke. "Because I'm aware that my son feels the same way about you as well." At this comment, Rei blushed, confused.

"…Sir? How would you…"

"Because he's my son," Mr. Hazuki said simply. "As I said, he has changed. But he changes the most around you." His hazel eyes twinkled slightly as he said the next words. "Sometimes, when I see how he looks at you, I'm reminded of the way his mother used to look at me when we were young. I would have to be blind to not see it." Hearing the last remark made Rei freeze in his folding chair. As he slowly began to color a beet-red from head to toe, the inside of his mind screamed in alarm and panic as it processed the man's words. It didn't take long for the truth to click in Rei's head.

_He knows._ The realization made the inside of his head turn white. _Oh God. He knows…!_ He was about to fall into a fit of hyperventilation when a hand landed gently on his shoulder.

"You have every right to feel what you feel." The voice of Nagisa's father was calm, understanding, comforting. "No one can tell you otherwise, not even I. You have every right to be honest to yourselves, and take your time discovering each other." In a rare moment, the man's hazel eyes crinkled up as his thin lips curved into a gentle smile. "And if you feel as if you need my blessings to do so, then you have them."

As Mr. Hazuki's low voice lingered in the air above the flickering surface of the lake, they produced a complex mix of emotions in the teen's heart. And seeing the quiet, kind perceptiveness in those crinkled hazel eyes, Rei suddenly realized something—that Nagisa might resemble his father more than he had previously thought. The only thing he could bring himself to say in response was a short but heartfelt _'Thank you'._ And the only thing that had ruined the moment was when Mr. Hazuki mildly asked Rei whether he really had tried on the bikini—and as the blue-haired boy spat out the sip of water he had taken from his canteen and started coughing violently, he wondered if he had imagined the mischievous sparkle that he thought had been in the man's hazel eyes. Maybe Nagisa really _did_ resemble his father more than Rei had thought.

...

When Rei went into his room in the villa some hours later, he found that his bed was empty. Suddenly wanting to see the blonde immediately, he quickly darted out of his room and went into Nagisa's original room, where he had slept the night before. As he had predicted, an awake Nagisa was standing in the room, looking through his bag for the toiletry kit he had thrown into it the day before. When he heard the door open, the blonde looked up at Rei before his face brightened.

"Oh, there you are, Rei-chan!" Forgetting his bag, Nagisa stood up and trotted over to Rei with a warm smile. "I was gonna tickle you awake if you were still sleeping, but I guess you're way too much of an early bird for that to ever happe—Rei-chan?" The blonde blinked his burgundy eyes as he looked curiously at the taller boy. "You look a little off—is something wro—" His question ended in a squeal of surprise when the brunette suddenly leaned down and swooped the blonde into his arms, holding him tightly to his chest.

"R-Rei-chan?!" Startled and his cheeks tinged pink, Nagisa blinked in Rei's sudden embrace. "I—I knew it! You're acting a little weird right now—a-are you sure you're fully awake?! I mean, after all those lectures you gave me about not being too touchy-feely on this trip—"

"I am." Rei's voice was muffled as he rested his face in Nagisa's hair. "I'm fully wake, Nagisa-kun."

"I-is that so?" the blonde stammered. Rei could feel Nagisa's heart pounding against his own chest, and the sensation made a touched smile form on his face, making his own heart pound faster.

Rei was so glad he had met this person, after all.

* * *

**End Notes**

And surprise! Mr. Hazuki is the first to officially find out about the relationship. From the time I first made his character actually show up in The Window (see Chapter 13), I decided to myself that he would be the first to know. And by know, I mean actually having either his son or his son's boyfriend acknowledge the fact in one way or another (Of course, their siblings catch on fairly quickly, as they are around these two more, but they don't officially admit the fact that they're dating to their siblings until some time after this drabble).

As with all the other Hazukis in this AU, I have also grown attached to Mr. Hazuki's character. I even didn't draw his face clearly in my sketch of the Hazukis, nor did I even give him a first name, because I didn't want to mess up how his character is portrayed. At first glance he is very different from Nagisa, who tends to take after his mother most of the time, but they do share some subtle characteristics, like the quality of perceptiveness I mentioned in this drabble. I hope you felt the affection that he has for his son (which is wholeheartedly returned by Nagisa), and I also think his personality would earn Rei's full respect.

Thank you for reading this drabble. I hope you guys enjoy the next one as well! :)


	4. Cotton Candy and Celebration Photos

Time Setting: Hazuki Nagisa, age 17, Ryuugazaki Rei, age 17 (High School 3rd Year, Summer)

* * *

They were hidden behind the wall of an abandoned temple, their arms around each other, their eyes closed, their lips brushing against each other's over and over in a series of kisses. As they grew in number, they turned from feathery light to more heated, intense, drawn-out ones. Before Rei even realized it, his hands were drawing the front of Nagisa's yukata slightly open, his mouth trailing kisses down the blonde's neck as his boyfriend let out a small squeak of pleasure. In the heat of the moment, the blonde's arms looped around Rei's neck as he twitched slightly under the feathery sensations, his hands burying themselves in the brunette's dark blue locks. Feeling the blonde's fingers tug at his hair, Rei pulled Nagisa off the wall he had been leaning on and reached around behind, starting to place kisses along the nape of the older boy's neck as well.

It was at the moment that the light of the festival lanterns hanging above highlighted a sliver of skin on the back of Nagisa's neck—and Rei caught a glimpse of something pink peeking out from under the blonde locks. Blinking, he drew back from kissing Nagisa, despite the blonde's whine of protest at his action.

"Rei-chan~! We were just getting to the good part!" Flushing at this comment, Rei shifted his glasses up his burning face before he opened his mouth.

"Nagisa-kun, you have something on the nape of your neck. Although I have no idea how it ended up on that part of your body, it's probably the cotton candy you were eating thirty minutes ago—"

_"Ehh?"_ The shorter boy's wide burgundy eyes blinked, puzzled. "How did that get all the way back there?"

"…Are you really asking _me_ that question?" With a sigh, Rei opened his mouth. "Come here, Nagisa-kun—I'll remove it for you." After Nagisa happily stepped forward, Rei reached behind the blonde's neck and removed the tuft of cotton candy, slightly ruffling Nagisa's hair and brushing the nape of his neck as he did. The sensation made the blonde purr happily as he nuzzled his head against Rei's hand, which made the younger boy blush every time it happened and did not fail to have the same effect on the brunette now.

"So, can we go back to making out now?" The blonde's blunt question was all it took to ruin the sweetness of the moment.

_"Nagisa-kun!"_ Even after they had been dating for almost a year now, Rei was still not used to the way Nagisa seemed to switch from being perfectly adorable one moment to—well, being so _forward_ (if that was the right way to put it). Not seeming to mind the exclamation, the blonde let out a cheery laugh that almost made Rei forget his indignation. Clearing his throat in an attempt to recompose himself, the brunette tried to cover up his embarrassment with a lecture.

"A-anyhow! Please refrain from running around with your food and bumping into people—that is probably how that piece of cotton candy got in your hair!" At this phrasing, Nagisa's burgundy eyes suddenly perked up.

"Hm—where have I heard those words related together before…?" After a few seconds, his eyes lit up. "Oh, right! _That_ was when!" He clapped his hands together cheerfully. "Say, Rei-chan, before we go back to making out, wanna hear a story?"

_"Nagisa-ku_—how many times do I have to—!" After a while, Rei gave up and threw his hands up in defeat "…What story is it that you are talking about?"

"The story of how I dyed my hair pink in junior high!" The words came out of the blonde's mouth casually, as if he was talking about how tree leaves turned red in the fall. But Rei knew Nagisa was not a tree leaf, nor a plant for that matter, and after he had processed the words 'pink' and 'dye' and 'junior high', the brunette's mouth fell open in surprise.

"You…dyed your hair? Pink?" he repeated stupidly. Then again, he wasn't sure if he was so surprised. This _was_ Nagisa they were talking about.

"Yup! I dyed it on the day that entrance exam scores were out for Iwatobi High!" The blonde's burgundy eyes sparkled mischievously at the memory. "Although my mom went ballistic when she saw me at home and she made me remove the dye almost right away. Nadeko-nee actually found it hilarious, though—she thought my head looked like cotton candy and she couldn't stop laughing for nearly ten minutes!" Suddenly, he rummaged in the pocket of his yukata and took out his cell phone, flipping it open. "I know I have a picture of it somewhere—aha! Here it is!" He flashed the screen at Rei, who leaned down, his eyes landing on the photo. In it was a younger Nagisa, triumphantly making a victory pose with his hand, a wink and a mischievous grin on his face. And as he had said, his hair was pink. Very, _very_ pink. Feeling very thankful that the blonde was now—well, blonde, Rei studied the picture with half-curious, half-apprehensive violet eyes.

"What in the world…" the brunette started to murmur. "Why did you suddenly decide to do something like this?"

"Well, I was practically out of junior high by that time," Nagisa began. "This was the day I went to Iwatobi High to see my exam results. I was so psyched that I got in, I dragged Komura with me downtown to celebrate. And well, this is what happened!"

"Don't _'And well this is what happened'_ me!" Rei croaked. "Didn't your school have regulations against dying hair? Although you said you dyed it on the day your exam results came out, you still must have had some school left before graduation—"

"That's just the thing, though, Rei-chan! When you think graduations, you automatically think cherry blossoms, don't you? I was just getting in the graduation spirit a bit early on!" the blonde replied cheerfully. "Sure, it did turn out a little more cotton candyish than sakura-ish, but don't you think the point would have gotten across?"

"How on _earth_ would reasoning as ridiculous as _that_ have gotten across?!" Rei burst out, putting both hands on his head and throwing it up in the air. "To do such a thing as dye your hair that color—that is _definitely_ not beautiful!" Of course, Rei's standards of beauty were stricter than most people's, but at the moment he thought he was speaking with considerable objectivity, even for his own standards. The pink in the photo was almost a hot pink, and it hurt Rei's eyes from just looking at the color in the picture. And of course, Rei's own principles dictated that, while dying one's hair a natural color was nothing to be frowned upon, dying one's hair…well, pink, or green, or any of those unnatural colors was an action that he could not understand.

"…You think I look ugly in that photo, Rei-chan?" Upon hearing the blonde's disheartened voice, Rei immediately turned his attention back to Nagisa, who was staring at the ground with sad burgundy eyes and a small pout on his face. "I thought you said I was beautiful…" Growing flustered, Rei quickly grabbed the blonde by the shoulders.

"That—of course not!" he burst out. "Of course I think you're beautiful, I can never think you look anything less than that, Nagisa-kun! I was only referring to the _action_ of dying your hair that color—it is simply that I prefer your hair the way it is now—and although the color in the photo _is_ a little too garish for my tastes, you could _never_ look ugly to me—"

"Pft…!" Rei stopped in midsentence when a small sound escaped the blonde's lips. As Nagisa burst into laughter before him, the brunette could only gape for the next few moments, his face growing beet-red and his violet eyes blinking in what was first confusion and was now embarrassment. Realizing that the blonde had been putting on an act again, the brunette reacted indignantly, his voice cracking slightly.

"NAGISA-KUN!" Wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, Nagisa grinned brightly at Rei.

"So you really like my blonde hair _that_ much, Rei-chan?" he teased, a mischievous spark in his burgundy eyes. "I _thought_ you liked patting my head a lot—so your perverted _hair fetish_ was the reason!" Upon hearing this remark, the younger boy nearly choked on his spit.

"I have _no ide_—I most _certainly_ do _not_—that is _ridiculous_, Nagisa-ku—" Rei's sputtering was cut off by a pair of lips that brushed over his. In the middle of his rant, Nagisa had gone on tiptoe and silenced Rei with a soft kiss. When the blonde eventually pulled away, his burgundy eyes were twinkling with delight and affection for the younger boy.

"Just how is it that you can sound so panicked and flirt with me at the same time—and how is it that you can be completely oblivious about it?" he asked teasingly, as he watched and secretly enjoyed the second and third shades of red that Rei's face turned at his question. Somehow, the brunette managed to pull it off every time—every time he told Nagisa that he was beautiful, the butterflies always returned to the blonde's stomach without fail. Even though it had been almost a year since they had confessed to each other. Even then. Although Nagisa had only been trying to tease the younger boy a little, perhaps he had unconsciously put on his act because he had wanted to hear those words from Rei's lips.

"…You knew I would react the way I did." As if he had read the blonde's mind, Rei looked down at Nagisa with a frown, the flush still very noticeable on his cheeks.

"Hm~? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Rei-chan!" Fighting to keep the smile off his face, Nagisa feigned ignorance, blinking his large burgundy eyes owlishly.

"…Really?" Suddenly, Nagisa felt strong fingers encircling around one of his wrists. Before he knew it, he was pushed back against the temple wall, his and Rei's bodies only a few inches away from each other. Seeing the brunette's face so close to his all of a sudden, his violet eyes boring straight into his own burgundy ones, made Nagisa freeze with surprise. As the blonde's eyes widened, Rei leaned over next to Nagisa's ear. His next words came out in a husky whisper.

"You _still_ don't know what I'm talking about?"

The sensation made shivers run down the blonde's back. Instantaneously, Nagisa was hit with a rare strong blush, his cheeks turning scarlet and the color spreading to the tips of his ears. For a few seconds, he could not find any words to respond with, and he stood there rooted to the ground, his mouth gaping open and closed and letting out nothing but air.

And then, he heard the laughter. Nagisa's eyes blinked before he registered that it was Rei. The brunette was leaning his arm against the wall of the temple, his head down, his shoulders shaking as he laughed. Once he realized that Rei had just turned the tables on him, the blonde stared at Rei in horror and disbelief. Then, he drew himself up indignantly, a very deep pout settling over his still-pink face.

_"Rei-chan!"_ Feeling torn between wanting to be mad at the brunette and wanting him to continue what he had been doing earlier, the blonde crossed his arms as Rei finally stopped laughing. "You totally used my own trick on me! That's so not fair!"

"Excuse me, Nagisa-kun?" Rei's violet eyes twinkled as he replied, wiping the tears of laughter from their corners. "I was under the impression that you never fight fair yourself. I was simply returning the favor." At this response, Nagisa's pout deepened.

"To think that the whole thing was a joke, when you were finally sounding so sexy—you can't blame me for being disappointed!" He stomped his feet a little on the ground, while Rei started to blush upon hearing those words.

"Just what do you mean by _'finally'_?!" Sighing, he looked off to the side, pushing his glasses up his nose and pretending he wasn't flustered by the comment. "W-well, I _did_ read up a little on the theory of—of setting the mood for situations like this—" Nagisa stared at Rei, suddenly remembering that Gou had been handing something that looked suspiciously like a teen magazine over to Rei in the club room when he had walked in after changing just the other day. Before he could ask what it was for or tease Rei mercilessly about it or both, their underclassmen from the swim club had also entered the room after changing, and by then Gou had already whipped out her itinerary for the next day's practice and was drilling the details into the boys' heads. He had forgotten about that happening for a while, and now that he remembered it, he thought he knew what that magazine had been for. The blonde's lips twitched up into a grin as he silently blessed the muscle-loving swim club manager for her kindness. To think that some cheesy tips from a bad teen mag had actually worked on him—he really _was_ in love with this dork after all. The blonde imagined how Rei must have sat at his desk after finishing his homework, poring over the magazine on his desk with a look of concentration—maybe he had even practiced those moves in front of a mirror. And just as Nagisa had started to think that Rei couldn't get any cuter than he was—his looks that only portrayed him as a serious, stuck-in-the-mud (and rather attractive) nerd were very much deceiving, indeed.

"You're _adorable_." Nagisa's sincere words caused Rei to become flabbergasted.

"Wha—_'adorable'?!"_ His violet eyes glinted with shock. "That was _not_ how I was supposed to come off!" Clenching his head with both hands, he dramatically threw it back in horror. "This is so not beautiful at all!" he wailed. At this, Nagisa laughed a little while rolling his eyes good-naturedly.

"Oh, Rei-chan—your boyfriend is calling you adorable and that's how you react?" But of course—this was Rei he was talking about here. "You're sexy and cute and beautiful—the whole once-in-a-lifetime package deal, 'kay? So don't sweat so much over the details!" He watched with satisfaction as Rei flushed for the _xth_ time that day—though he loved the Rei that was in charge and took control over him and pushed him up against walls, he would always have a soft spot for the Rei that was flustered and blushing and pushing his red glasses up the bridge of his nose when, literally, there was no nose space left above for the frames to rest on. Meanwhile, the brunette before him struggled to find a response for the older boy's words.

"I…" He hesitated before opening his mouth again. "I feel the same about you," he said simply, in a slightly embarrassed but sincere voice. "Pink hair or no pink hair." The blonde's face lit up promptly at this confession, and he immediately launched himself at Rei, laughing in delight.

_"Rei-chan!"_ "Na-_Nagisa-kun!_ Stop—I'm going to topple over!" As the two were making a lot of noise, a sarcastic voice came from behind them.

"Did I ever mention that you two should get a damn room?" Both Rei and Nagisa turned to see Rin, who looked at them with less than enthusiastic red eyes. "_Tch_, why did Makoto have to send _me_ over to fetch you two, when it was obvious you came over here to suck each others' faces—"

"Rin-chan!" Grinning, Nagisa released Rei and skipped over to the red-haired boy. "Guess what move Rei-chan just tried to pull on me!"

_"Nagisa-kun!"_ Rei croaked, simultaneously paling and flushing beet-red at the direction this conversation was going. "Rin-san—don't listen to a word he says!"

"What's that you're talking about?" Upon hearing the voice of his senpai, Rei froze and his face paled even further. Makoto and Haru had appeared behind Rin, the taller boy casting a curious look at the three of them. "The fireworks are going to start soon, so we sent Rin over to get you guys—we were wondering what was taking so long—" Rin grunted slightly, choosing not to reveal that he had pretty much stood behind an abandoned stall nearby and overheard his two younger friends' conversation from the point where Nagisa called Rei adorable—the redhead was extremely glad he hadn't arrived earlier, when he was positive that the two of them had been making out, and that was _not_ a sight that his poor eyes needed to see _again_.

"Mako-chan, Haru-chan!" Perking up, Nagisa now ran over to the older boys with an excited grin on his face. "Guess what Rei-chan did to me just no—"

"YES, MAKOTO-SENPAI, WE SHOULD HURRY AND GO WATCH THOSE FIREWORKS!" Rei shouted in a loud voice, interrupting the blonde. "IMMEDIATELY!"

"Eh..?!" Taken aback for a moment, Makoto studied Rei's face—then, he smiled in a slightly puzzled but understanding way. "Rei's right—they're scheduled to start in just a minute. Let's go to the area by the riverbank!" With that, the boys began heading over to the area, Nagisa chatting animatedly with Makoto and Haru in the front while Rei and Rin brought up the rear, walking in silence.

"So, Speedo Glasses—what fantastic move _did_ you try out on him, eh?" Jumping at Rin's voice, Rei turned mortified violet eyes towards the red-haired boy, who was smirking at him.

"Wh-wh-wha—" The brunette's face turned a dark shade of red. "I—I don't know what you're talking about, Rin-san!"

"Oh, please. It's still open in the front, Nagisa's yukata." Rin rolled his eyes. "If you're gonna go make out in public, at least have the decency to hide the traces." At this comment, Rei's face paled.

"NAGISA-KUN!" As the brunette ran forward to Nagisa and straightened the blonde's yukata, Rin let out a snort of laughter before he naturally caught up to Makoto and Haru. Now it was Nagisa and Rei walking together at the back—from what he could hear, they were having some conversation about pink hair and teen magazines. Wondering if they had read some article about Pink, Rin turned his attention back to the two boys in front of him. He found Makoto looking back at Rei and Nagisa with a motherly smile on his face.

"They're still as sweet as ever," he remarked. "Although it's been a while since we've went off to college—" At this comment, Rin snorted.

"If by 'sweet' you mean 'gross', then yeah, you've hit the mark."

"Now, now, don't be like that, Rin!" Makoto chided the redhead, his voice placating. "It's great to see them getting along the same as ever—"

"If you like seeing them getting along so much, then _you_ should've gone and fetched them from their make-out session, Mother."

_"Rin!"_ As Makoto sputtered and Haru rolled his blue eyes next to him, they heard a faint whooshing sound, followed by a crack! Turning around, the Iwatobi boys found that the fireworks had already started. Behind the three older boys, Rei watched as Nagisa tilted his head up towards the sky, his burgundy eyes sparkling as he took in the colorful bursts of light against the black canvas of the night. His lips settling into a soft smile, the brunette silently reached over and grabbed Nagisa's hand. As soon as he felt Rei's touch, Nagisa squeezed the younger boy's hand with his own and linked his fingers with Rei's. As the fireworks continued to explode in the sky, the blonde momentarily turned his head towards Rei. His burgundy eyes glowed with warmth as he mouthed some words at the younger boy.

_'You're beautiful.'_ When Rei processed these words, a new blush blossomed on his cheeks, as well as a warmth in his heart. Silently, he squeezed Nagisa's hand back in response, his violet eyes melting at the edges with a soft look of adoration for the blonde as he mouthed back the words _'You too'._ They both turned back to watch the fireworks paint themselves across the night sky.

…

Just a little after Rei got home that evening and finished changing, he heard his cell phone beep on his nightstand. Walking over to the table, he picked up his phone and saw that a new message had arrived from Nagisa. Gulping slightly and wondering if it had anything to do with the conversations they had had earlier at the fair, the brunette hesitantly flipped open his phone.

When he opened the message, a photo popped up onto the screen. It was the one of Nagisa in junior high with pink hair, the one the blonde had shown to Rei at the squid festival. Blinking, Rei scrolled down the message and found the rest of Nagisa's text beneath the photo.

_[Since you said I'm beautiful no matter what! ;D]_ Reading the words, Rei gave an affectionate roll of his eyes before typing out a reply: _[Good night, Nagisa-kun.]_ Hitting send, he yawned and, placing the phone back on the bedside table, headed to the bathroom to wash his face.

Rei looked at that photo again before he went to bed that night. He looked at it once more in the morning when he woke up, and the next day, and the next day as well. And every time, he actually found the corners of his mouth turning up into a smile.

Regardless the hair, he _did_ look a little cute in the photo. Only a little, Rei told himself. But all the same, he found himself saving the picture into the growing collection of Nagisa's photos on his phone. And he only regretted his decision none at all.

Once he realized some years later that he had never heard the full story behind the pink hair, Rei decided that he would ask Nagisa about it that evening when the blonde would come home to him from school.

* * *

**End Notes**

Yes, I know this drabble could have been a little random (but as I have no set rule for what I choose to drabble about, so it shall be xD). *cough*it'snotbecauseijustwantedtoshowthemmakingoutnopenotatall*cough* I was in the mood for a little fluff *cough*andsomedegreeofaction*cough* and I suddenly got the urge to turn Nagisa's hair pink somehow (I was going to make it a hidden tattoo instead, but then I realized he's still underage in the present setting of the drabble), so this happened. And I also had wanted to include a little of their dating life before their college years, so I placed them in this time setting. I hope you guys still liked it! ;v; *cough*Rinissuchatsunderereigisashipperlol*cough*Ithinkthelastsentencecouldbereadasafuturespoiler*coughcough*


	5. The Train Ride and The Jog

Time Setting: Hazuki Nagisa, age 16/Ryuugazaki Rei, age 16 (High School 2nd Year, Spring)

* * *

_'At the rate you're doing right now, your record will never improve!'_

Rei sat on the train that morning, clad in his usual tracksuit, a prominent furrow sitting between his dark-blue eyebrows as he recalled his track coach's words from yesterday. His arms crossed, he stayed lost in thought until he felt a head of fluffy hair rub against one of them from the side.

"Reeeeiiiii-chaaaaaannnnn~~~~!" The voice of Rei's best friend and classmate, Hazuki Nagisa, whined as the blonde's burgundy eyes looked at the brunette pleadingly. "Join us for the joint practice with Samezuka! Just this once! Pleeeeeeeaaaaaassssseeeeee~~~~~!" He continued to rub his head against Rei's arm, and the contact made the brunette's face flush with embarrassment as he stuttered out a flustered response.

"Nagisa-kun! Would you please stop nuzzling your head against my arm?!" And just when Rei had thought the blonde was sleeping—he guessed that his friend had woken up some time while he himself had been lost in thought. "And I have told you several times before that I won't go! I have track practice after school that day!" He hadn't mentioned the crucial factor that had made him come to this decision—that he couldn't swim, couldn't even do the doggy paddle to save his own life. Just the thought of how Nagisa might laugh upon that un-beautiful discovery and tease him about sinking like a hammer in the water*—it made him simultaneously shudder and sink into the depths of mortification and despair.

"You can just skip practice—just for that one day!" Nagisa wheedled, tugging at Rei's arm as if the action would make his case more convincing. "I promise, you won't have to do anything else for me, like ever again—just this once! Pretty please?" Struggling to not fall prey to the blonde's kitten-like stare, Rei gulped as he opened his mouth once more.

"That was the same exact thing you told me when you asked me to help you and Haruka-senpai and Makoto-senpai renovate the school pool during lunch! A-and I thought you had enough members in your swim club after Gou-san joined!"

"But Gou-chan's just the manager, and we need four _swimmers_ to go to that joint practice!" the blonde protested, pouting. "You only have to swim this once, I promise! After that, we'll go back to looking for another member! Please, please, _please~~?"_ Rei was immensely relieved when the train rolled to a stop at one station before Iwatobi High, just after the blonde finished his last word. Without answering the blonde, Rei shouldered his backpack and got up, stepping onto the platform. Also dressed in his school's P.E. uniform, Nagisa quickly followed the brunette off the train. As they jogged together out the station and onto the path lined with flowers, Nagisa spent a few minutes silently looking at Rei, observing the expression on the brunette's face. It didn't take a long time until Rei noticed the blonde's stare, and after trying to ignore it for a few minutes, he finally turned towards Nagisa with an exasperated look in his violet eyes.

"Staring at me like that is not going to help your case, Nagisa-kun!" he said—although even to himself his words didn't sound very convincing. The brunette was hyper aware of the things Nagisa had gotten him to do just by giving him his trademark sparkly eyes, and he swallowed, waiting for a reaction from the blonde. When it came, it wasn't the response he had been expecting.

"Did something happen at track practice?" Startled, Rei came to a stop in his jog. Nagisa was looking at him with worried eyes as he too paused his running.

"H-How did you…" the brunette trailed off, his violet eyes widening. In response, the blonde sheepishly scratched the area behind his ear with his finger.

"You seemed a little off after you made the bar fall down with you yesterday." When Rei had been at track practice yesterday, Nagisa had arrived at the field during the last few minutes of the meet and had been waiting for Rei on the bleachers. He had seen the coach tell Rei something, and right afterwards, Rei's expression had changed into that of troubled frustration. While the blonde had debated addressing the issue when he went home with the brunette on the train, he had thought it best to leave Rei alone for that day. But when his friend continued to wear the same frown on their train ride to school the next day, the blonde decided that he would try to talk to Rei about what had happened. "Was it about you falling on that last bar? I know the wind started blowing when you were in the middle of your vault, so it couldn't have been entirely your fault—did the coach tell you off about it or something?" Nagisa's forehead scrunched up thoughtfully. "But you still made all the jumps before that…"

"…He said that…that at this rate, I would never improve my record." The admittance fell softly from Rei's lips as he stood there looking at his feet, his hand clenched into a fist at his side.

"Eh?" Nagisa blinked, slightly confused. "But I don't understand—you were doing perfectly fine! I mean, your pole vaulting is always really beautiful whenever I see it!" Hearing this compliment, the brunette looked up at Nagisa and blushed—trust the blonde to make him flustered even at a time like this. Looking off to the side with a slight frown, his cheeks slightly pink, the brunette shifted his red glasses up his nose, trying to hide his face with his hand.

"That's just…" His words faltered. "I'm just using theories and calculations to jump—that's all…"

"But that in itself is amazing, Rei-chan!" Nagisa told him matter-of-factly, as if he was stating something obvious. "I mean, I'm not so good with that stuff, so I'd never be able to pull off what you do at track practice every day!" Just when he finished saying this, his burgundy eyes began to sparkle with an idea. "Which is why you should apply your theories and calculations and swim with us at that joint practice!" he added, spreading his arms out towards the sky and swiping them down towards the field of flowers in a circular movement. "I can totally imagine you doing something like that—you would look totally beautiful while you're at it, too!" His own cheeks flushed with excitement and delight as he imagined it—Rei at the diving board, bending over, then soaring into the air in a graceful arc as he dived into the water—his sculpted arms breaking in and out of the surface, his muscles pulling and releasing at just the right points—his toned body breaking out of the water after his swim, with water dripping from his now tan skin—how hot his long, taut legs and firm butt would look in a speedo—Realizing that he was getting carried away with his imagination, the blonde quickly snapped out of his daydreaming and quickly turned away from Rei, his cheeks turning scarlet.

"Be…beauti…" The blonde blinked when he heard his friend's voice. Turning around, he saw a very red Rei, looking shocked and flustered and frozen to the ground. Seeing the younger boy obviously embarrassed made Nagisa uncharacteristically flustered as well. Wondering if Rei had finally seen through his feelings for him, the blonde hastily drew himself up and started waving his arms around wildly.

"I, I mean, if it's you, I feel like you'll be able to fit right in, y'know?!" he continued, changing the subject. "Si-since you're already really athletic, I mean—you'd hardly have any trouble passing for a swim team member! A-and besides, you've never seen me or Haru-chan or Mako-chan swimming before! You should take this chance and come watch us!"

"…Ah…" Snapping out of the daze that had resulted from Nagisa's words, Rei blinked. "That is true…" It had only been a few weeks since the school year had started, and already Nagisa had talked Rei's ear off about swimming all that time—so much that Rei had forgotten that he really hadn't seen Nagisa or his two senpais swimming. From his point of view, of course, swimming was hardly a sport suited for humans, who he firmly believed had been born to walk on land and not flop around in the water gasping for their breath like they were drowning. But…while he still thought that swimming was not a beautiful sport, he had to admit…he was a little curious about what his friends would look like while swimming. At Rei's response, Nagisa's burgundy eyes widened, and a hopeful smile spread across his face.

"Right? You've only ever heard stories about our old days at the ITSC!" he chirped. "And sure, it's been a while since any of us swam athletically—but at the very least, you can still count on Haru-chan! His swimming's totally beautiful!" Upon hearing the blonde praise the raven-haired boy—although there had been several instances of this already—Rei's heart sank slightly as he felt a slight twinge of jealousy.

"And, well…even though I can't swim as well as Haru-chan…" Hearing Nagisa's voice, Rei turned his attention back to the blonde, who suddenly looked a little shy. "I'd be happy if you came and watched me, Rei-chan." Averting his gaze slightly, the smaller boy scratched the back of his head sheepishly, his cheeks tinged pink and his lips turned up in an embarrassed smile. "Even though I don't think it'll be as beautiful to watch as your pole vaulting is…"

And if all the blonde's previous wheedling and attempts to invite curiosity had not convinced the blue-haired boy—well, he was most certainly very close to being convinced now. Rei's heart skipped a beat at how absolutely _adorable_ the blonde was being at the moment. And he had even said it would make him happy…Oh no. He couldn't believe he was about to do this—he had to be crazy, he couldn't even swim—

"…I'll go." The words fell from his lips before Rei could stop himself. "I'll…go to that joint practice." Not long after his response, an excited voice exploded in the air, nearly blowing Rei's ears off.

"REI-CHAAN!" In a split second, the brunette felt Nagisa's body slamming into him, nearly knocking him over. Oblivious to his friend's resulting nervousness, the blonde squeezed the breath out of Rei with one of his death-grip hugs as he furiously nuzzled his head against the younger boy's chest. "You're the best! The absolute best!"

"Na-Nagisa-kun!" Hastily regaining his balance, Rei stood there on the path awkwardly as he searched for words to say.

"It'll be awesome! You, Haru-chan, Mako-chan, and me swimming together—" Oh—right. Rei had almost forgotten that he was expected to swim as well. The brunette cleared his throat, making Nagisa look up.

"I'll go there on one condition, Nagisa-kun." At this statement, the blonde blinked.

"What's that?" he asked curiously.

"I," Rei began, "will absolutely _not_ be swimming."

_"Ehhhh~?!"_ All of Nagisa's fantasies about Rei swimming (in a speedo) promptly crashed and fizzled to dust. Pouting, the blonde looked reproachfully at Rei. "Why _not?!"_

"Don't ask, don't challenge." Rei's voice was firm. "If you do not accept this condition, Nagisa-kun, then there is no deal. Do you accept?" For five seconds, the older boy made a sound that was somewhere between a whine and a growl before he perked up once more.

"Deal!" Rei sighed mentally in relief when the response came. After the brunette nodded in confirmation, the two teenagers resumed their jogging as they headed for school.

"But how're you gonna go to the joint practice and not swim, Rei-chan?" "That's up to you to figure out, Nagisa-kun." "Eh…?! Really? Hmm—oh, I know! I'll just say that you forgot your swimsuit!" "…That's a fairly simple excuse." "Eh? You want a more detailed excuse, Rei-chan? Then I'll make up a whole back story on how you pulled a muscle while you were practicing your synchronized swimming choreography in the water—" "The first excuse will suffice, Nagisa-kun." "Or I'll say that you tore a hole in your speedo yesterday from stretching and you didn't have time to get a new one—" _"Nagisa-kun!_ Wait, why would you say it's a _speedo_ out of all things?!" "Cause I think a speedo would suit Rei-chan the best, of course!" _"Hah?!_ How in the world did you come up with that conclusion?!" "Oh, I don't know, it's just a feeling?" _"NAGISA-KUN!"_ The two boys continued to bicker until they arrived at the school gates and ran into Haru and Makoto. Together, the four boys walked into their school, Nagisa telling the two older boys about Rei's agreement and Rei blushing slightly when Makoto cast him a surprised smile and Haru just stared at him knowingly, as if he understood what had made Rei change his mind.

Neither Rei, nor Nagisa for that matter, would have been able to predict the fateful event that happened at that swim practice. Even after having humiliated himself when he flopped on his belly during his 'dive' and sank in the pool, the moment that Rei saw Haru swim that day, he suddenly felt as if a new way had been lighted for him, as if he was on the verge of understanding how he could become free. And although Nagisa was envious of Haru for having this effect on the blue-haired boy, he would soon come to be thankful that Rei had been there, at that place at that time, to see that sight. On their train ride home after that practice, Nagisa studied Rei's thoughtful face as the blue-haired boy sat quietly, his violet eyes glowing with a new hope. And eventually, after the blonde had gotten home, an idea came to him that made him smile at just the thought of it coming true.

From what the blonde had observed of his friend during their first weeks of school together, he could tell that Rei was nervous—he had every right and reason to be, considering that it had been six whole years since he had attended a public school and was starting a new part of his life. Maybe that was why he was turning so much to theories and calculations, which was his home ground, his comfort zone. But Nagisa had a feeling that Rei trying so hard to be by the book was exactly why he wasn't getting the hang of being a little more free and spontaneous yet. Maybe, the brunette needed a _slight_ change of setting. So he texted Haru, Makoto, and Gou that night, and although they were all dubious about his plan, they agreed to accompany him to the school track after classes let out the next day.

As he sat on the bleachers with Haru, Makoto, and Gou during that track practice, waiting for it to be over so he could approach Rei and ask the question, he heard Rei being called up for his turn at the vault. All four of them were surprised when Rei soared over the pole, his arms and legs thrusting out in a pose that reminded Nagisa, to his delight, of a butterfly. Although the brunette crashed into the pole on his way down, his face seemed refreshed, which made the blonde feel glad for his friend. As the blue-haired boy approached the four of them, Nagisa began to fidget excitedly, wondering how he should phrase the question when Rei got to the bleachers.

It turned out that the brunette unexpectedly beat him to it. When he heard Rei ask to join the swim club, the blonde was ecstatic. When Rei told him to take responsibility, Nagisa practically flung himself at the blue-haired boy, squealing and laughing in delight.

"Just leave it to me, Rei-chan!" The excited teen's shout filled the spring air, and was followed by the protests of a flustered brunette.

It had all started with a train ride and a morning jog.

* * *

**Footnotes**

*The Japanese term _'kanazuchi'_ means 'hammer', and to _'sink like a hammer'_ in the water means that one cannot swim. The term came up in the anime (and drama CDs) when both Rei himself and some of the other Iwatobi boys (and Rin) used it to refer to Rei, and I tried to translate it as accurately as possible in this drabble.

**End Notes**

And here it finally is! The train ride and the jog through the flower field scene, seen through the Next Door AU! (I know that's not the most original name for this AU, but I suck at naming these things ;v;). I like to think that, aside from some obvious canon divergences, the events that occur as Rei joins the swim club and the team ultimately goes to regionals stay pretty close to canon. So although there are a few differences with how I've written this scene, it's pretty much similar to the actual scene in the anime. But I felt that I should include this anyways because some readers were curious as to how Nagisa convinces Rei to take up swimming in some way or another (in here, he just asks Rei for the moment to join the joint practice, but ultimately he wants to ask Rei to join the swim club, but of course Rei beats him to it ^^). It is an important moment in the plot, so even if it was repetitive and not the most original drabble, I hope you guys understand!


	6. In Due Time, We Meet

Time Setting: (mostly) Hazuki Nagisa, age 16/Ryuugazaki Rei, age 16 (High School 2nd Year, Summer)

* * *

-Six Years Ago, Summer-

"—and then Haru-chan made this _awesome_ dive from this platform that was _super high_ off the ground and Coach Sasabe got _super furious_ at him—"

Sometimes, ten-year-old Ryuugazaki Rei found himself marveling at the sheer volume of his next-door-neighbor's voice. Even on a summer day, when the cicadas in their neighborhood were making their loud cries, the voice of ten-year-old Hazuki Nagisa seemed to drown out even those noisy buzzing sounds. As the little blonde boy enthusiastically made a paddling gesture with his arms to illustrate a point in yet another of his stories about his friends at the ITSC, Rei internally rolled his eyes, but in a good-natured way. Although he had been feeling a little lonely (as well as a little jealous) after hearing so many stories about Nagisa's friends from the swimming club, the brunette liked seeing the excited sparkle in the blonde's burgundy eyes, which were always animated when he spoke of the three boys he had come to know and love.

From just the sheer number of stories the blonde had told Rei about them, the bespectacled boy almost felt as if he knew 'Haru-chan', 'Mako-chan', and 'Rin-chan' in person. Almost. Sometimes, hearing about these boys so much piqued Rei's curiosity, to the point that he wondered what they looked like and whether their personalities were as exaggeratedly distinct as the blonde had portrayed them in his stories (probably not, Rei thought, but still, most would find a boy who thought that water and mackerel were the two loves of his life unique, no matter who the person describing him was). It seemed like Nagisa was creating a near-unbreakable bond with his new friends, and the thought made a pang of loneliness go through Rei's chest—not just because it reminded him of the bond he had failed to hold together in the past, but because he was envious of what the blonde had with his fellow relay team members. If Rei hadn't understood what friendship was before (although he felt he was pretty close to it at the moment, now that he had met Nagisa), he would have said that he might understand what it was now, after hearing about the blonde's memories with the three older boys.

As his mind was filled with such thoughts, Rei zoned out slightly in the middle of Nagisa's story. When he came back to reality, he found that the blonde was staring at Rei with reproachful burgundy eyes, a deep pout on his face.

"Rei-chan! You weren't listening to me just now, were you?" At this accurate accusation, the brunette gulped and blinked guiltily before he opened his mouth.

"That—I—I was just—" Watching the brunette searching his brain for words, Nagisa let out a small sigh.

"Am I boring you, Rei-chan?" he asked, his voice small. "I always have a lot of fun, telling you stories about Haru-chan and Mako-chan and Rin-chan—but if you're tired of them…"

"No!" Rei shouted quickly, straightening up in his seat. "That's not it at all—I, I'm glad that you're having fun at your swimming club. And I do enjoy hearing about your friends, I really do!" Turning his head to one side, the brunette shifted his glasses up his nose with one hand, his cheeks slightly tinged pink. "I was…I was just thinking…what it would be like, if I were to actually meet them…" The admittance made the blonde's burgundy eyes widen as he regarded the blue-haired boy, eventually accompanied by a delighted smile.

"Really?! You wanna meet Haru-chan and Mako-chan and Rin-chan?! You should, then! I can always invite them over to my house—and maybe the five of us can talk together! That would be AWESOME!" As if to prove his point, the smaller boy enthusiastically slammed his palms down on the windowsill, his golden blonde locks bouncing up with the sudden movement. "Just wait, Rei-chan! I'll invite them over tomorrow—"

"That most certainly won't be necessary, Nagisa-kun!" Upon hearing Rei's panicked yelp, the smile dropped from Nagisa's face and was replaced with a disappointed frown.

"Eh~? Why not~? I'm sure they'd come over if I asked them to—I wouldn't even tell them you wanted to see them, Rei-chan, you could just hit it off with them real natural!" He made the last comment out of consideration for the brunette's personality, because he knew that Rei was even shyer than he himself was sometimes. But the violet-eyed boy still shook his head firmly.

"I appreciate the thought, Nagisa-kun—but really, I would just prefer to hear about them from you. Since the stories you tell are always fun and interesting to hear." He added the last remark with a meaningful tone to his voice, one that always had the effect of flattering Nagisa and distracting him from whatever appalling idea or scheme the blonde was cooking up in his head at the time. And again, it worked—the blonde's face lit up at Rei's praise and the smile was back on it, wide as ever.

"Really?! You think they're fun?!" he chirped excitedly. "Yay!" And although he had purposely tried to cause this reaction, Rei couldn't help but think how adorable the blonde was being with his enthusiasm. Coughing slightly and trying to dispel this thought, the brunette turned back to the book about fluid dynamics that sat in his lap—until the blonde's knowing voice spoke the next words.

"I'm sure that you'll meet them, someday!" Looking up from the open pages, Rei's violet eyes widened as they saw the encouraging but gentle smile on Nagisa's face. "I know they'd like you, just like I do!" The second remark made the blue-haired boy blush—quickly averting his gaze back to his book, he frowned in an attempt to mask his bashfulness.

"Tha—It's irresponsible to suggest baseless things like that, Nagisa-kun," he mumbled. Undeterred by his reaction, the blonde placed a thoughtful finger on his cheek.

"It's not baseless!" he decided after a while. "After all, all five of us have girly names—that's more than enough proof that it's fate!" He giggled as Rei nearly fell out of his chair with indignant surprise.

_"That's_ your reason?! So your assumption _was_ baseless!"

"Aww, c'mon, Rei-chan! It's all _five_ of us—no matter how you look at it, it's fate!"

"Nagisa-kun! I'll have you know that the concept of fate is completely illogical and ridiculous! There is no such thing as being predestined for something or—" The blue-haired boy fell into a rant, and the blonde giggled softly as he leaned his chin in his folded arms on the windowsill and listened.

* * *

"…tha's….ridiculou…"

In the tent, a redhead's eyes began fluttering open as he heard a voice next to him mumbling between soft snores.

"…and I'll have you know, Nagisa-kun….st because of the feminine nature of our…doesn't mean we'll get along…"

Okay, now Rin was fully awake. The redhead let out a soft _tsk_ as he gingerly sat up in his sleeping bag. Next to him, sixteen-year-old Rei was sleeping, with the sleep talk still leaking out of his mouth, blissfully unaware of the fact that his mumbling had woken up the older boy. When the blue-haired boy continued to murmur more words, some that Rin could not piece together and some that were coherent but still did not make sense to him because of the lack of context, the redhead rolled his eyes silently at the younger boy.

_The hell is he mumbling about for so long?_ Slightly annoyed at Rei, Rin plopped down back into his sleeping bag and turned over, trying to fall back asleep. When the butterfly swimmer's ramblings continued, however, the redhead eventually jerked back up from under the canvas, an irritated frown on his face.

"Goddammit!" Ruffling his hair a bit furiously, Rin unzipped his sleeping bag and got up, jerking the back of his hand across his eyes in an attempt to get the wax out of the corners. Aiming a slight kick at Rei's sleeping bag (the blue-haired boy rolled over a little at this sensation and moved slightly under the canvas but did not wake up), the redhead shot the younger boy a deadly look as he gritted his shark-like teeth and started reciting mantras in his head to restrain himself from strangling the brunette awake. Deciding that he needed some fresh air, he unzipped the flap of the tent he shared with Rei and stepped out onto sand. Finding his sandals, he put them on, and when he looked up, he caught sight of a fire burning some meters down the beach. Realizing that he might not be the only one who had woken up, the redhead sighed and, scratching the back of his head, walked down the strip of beach along the now-black waters to join the two teens sitting around the flame.

It had been about a month after the regionals had ended. Before Haru and Makoto and Rin himself would become busy with pre-exam studying for college, the five of them (which also included Nagisa and Rei) had agreed to go on a trip together during summer break. But Rin certainly hadn't expected that they would end up coming back here of all places—to one of the three islands that a certain annoying blonde kept referring to as 'The Shimashima Deserted Islands'. He had heard about what had happened to the Iwatobi boys the last time they had come here for their training regimen before regionals—frankly, after hearing the story of how all four of them had almost drowned at the time, the fact that it was _Makoto_ who had suggested this place as their trip destination had baffled Rin to no end. True, none of them had the money to afford a nicer trip at some more trip-suited place, and true, the Tachibanas' camping gear and the ride on Coach Sasabe's fishing boat were free, but did that really mean his friends had to return to these islands, which had almost become their grave? If it had been him, Rin thought, he wouldn't have gone near any island ever again, much less these ones here, where he and his friends were camping for the night.

Throughout the day, however, Rin had forgotten that story for a while, as he had fun with his four friends on the beach. The five of them had spent their time making sand structures (which had grown increasingly elaborate because at some time during the activity it had become a competition for Haru and Rin), sunbathing (while tanning on his beach chair, Rin had caught Nagisa innocently-not-so-innocently offering Rei to lather his back with sunscreen for him and the redhead had rolled his eyes as the blonde chased his crush around with the bottle in his hand after the blue-haired boy had promptly refused with a beet-red face), playing beach volleyball (Makoto had gotten into a bit of a predicament with all the girls that hit on him after they saw his muscles at work while slamming the ball, and although he had mouthed desperately at his friends for help, none of them had come to his aid and he had to escape on his own), and of course, swimming (it had been hilarious, how Speedo Glasses had flopped around in the water with a kickboard since he still couldn't swim anything besides the butterfly, and Rin had made sure that the blue-haired boy knew of his amusement).

At dinnertime, they had all gathered around the grill and cooked Haru's favorite mackerel, as well as another load of Coach Sasabe's pizzas (about half of which ended up disappearing down Nagisa's throat). Then they had made a bonfire with some wood they gathered on the beach and had sat around it, talking, until the time had come for them to choose tents for the night. As the Tachibanas had recently replaced their camping gear, there had been a bigger tent for four people and a smaller one for two, and though Rin had noticed Nagisa perking up at the mention of the second tent, as if he had wanted to suggest something—his burgundy eyes had traveled over to Rei, then had quickly averted themselves away. In the end, they had chosen tents through tracing ladders, and Haru, Makoto, and Nagisa ended up sharing the big tent while Rin ended up in the smaller one with Rei. Which had ultimately led to Rin waking up at—at some ungodly hour in the very early morning (the sky was still black, for Christ's sake—Rin didn't know what exact time it was because he didn't have a watch with him and his cell phone had run out of battery).

And as he neared the bonfire, the redhead was able to identify which two of his friends were sitting around the fire. When they heard him approach, both Haru and Nagisa looked up in surprise at Rin.

"Rin." "Rin-chan!"

"Yo." Rin sat down at the log nearest to him, heaving a short breath. "Speedo Glasses was rambling in his sleep—and woke me up because of it, dammit." He threw a slightly curious glance at the two boys in front of him. "The hell are you two up for?"

"Aha, just couldn't sleep, Rin-chan!" the blonde replied first. "And when I got up to get some air, I ended up waking Haru-chan, so—" Grinning sheepishly, Nagisa rubbed the back of his head with one hand. At this admission, Rin rolled his eyes.

"Just what is it with you and Speedo Glasses, waking people up—" Letting out a faint yawn, he cracked his eyes back open at Nagisa. "And what's with you, not being able to sleep—you sleep like a rock all the time, even on _roller coasters."_ He rolled his eyes again at the slightly disturbing memory from the time that all five of them and Gou had gone to a theme park together.

"Geez, Rin-chan! Don't call people rocks, would you? And that incident with the roller coaster was just that one time! I told you I spent the whole night before on a horror movie marathon with Natsuki-nee—I was just feeling sleepy, okay?"

"Whatever." Remembering when the blonde had first mentioned this to him, Rin again marveled at how deceiving looks were. Hazuki Nagisa looked like he'd be into My Little Pony movies even at the tender age of sixteen, and Hazuki Natsuki, from the photos that Nagisa had shown him and the others on his phone, looked like she would be into chick flicks, but no, they were both into movies with blood and guts and all sorts of weapons, even weapons that shouldn't be weapons in the first place (but bless horror film writers, they had quite the (disturbing) imagination). The little shit (Nagisa) even _laughed_ at seeing these things on film—and apparently, he could also fall asleep on vehicles going at 200-something kilometers per hour, even when they made four loops in the space of barely ten seconds and went down an almost-ninety-degree drop at the end. And the kid had cried because his sisters had used to chase him down to dress him in girl's clothes—clearly, Rin thought, the blonde had his priorities of fear backwards.

"What was Rei-chan saying in his sleep, anyways?" Upon hearing Nagisa's voice, Rin snapped out of his thoughts to look at the smaller boy. His burgundy eyes were rapt with curiosity as he sat on the edge of his log, waiting for an answer. It was too precious, really, how obvious it was that the blonde was into the blue-haired kid—everyone in their swim club AND Rin had noticed by now, that is, everyone except Speedo Glasses himself. Snickering under his breath, the redhead cast a knowingly smug look at Nagisa.

"If you wanted to hear Speedo Glasses babble in his sleep so much, then why didn't you just go ahead and jump in that tent with him?" He smirked at the blonde, whose cheeks were promptly starting to flush red. "Since you seemed like you were dying to get all cozy with _'Rei-chan'_ and all—"

"Th-That's not true!" the blonde squeaked indignantly, his entire face beet red now. "G-geez, what're you being all pervy for, Rin-Rin?! And besides, I just thought that I should give you guys a chance to make friends cause you two are still kinda awkward around each other—"

"Oh, please." Rin snorted. "For someone who was trying to be considerate, you sure looked like you wanted me to sleep out on the beach or something. And don't call me Rin-Rin, you little shit!"

"I—that's not—!" When Nagisa's protests started to get a little louder, a voice interrupted their conversation from behind them.

"Wow, three of you are out here already—why aren't you guys sleeping?" It was Makoto, his voice sleepy and his eyelids drooping more than usual as he yawned behind the log where Haru sat.

"Makoto." "Mako-chan!" _"Tch,_ you're up too?" The tall brunette gave them a sheepish grin before sitting down on one of the unoccupied logs.

"I woke up and heard you guys talking, so I came out here." He looked curiously at Rin and Nagisa. "So what were you guys talking about, anyways? It seemed like your voice was getting louder, Nagisa—"

"Oh, nothing. Just a little something about Speedo Glasses," Rin said all casually, ignoring the panicked look that Nagisa shot at him. "About how Nagisa here wanted to share a tent with him and all—" "Shut _up,_ Rin-Rin!" _"That's it, brat, I'm gonna kill you!"_ As Makoto observed this exchange, his green eyes sparked before growing thoughtful.

"Were you worried about Rei, Nagisa?" The tall boy's gentle question made both Nagisa and Rin's bickering cease. "Since he _did_ go out in the night on his own last time." Haru looked up from the fire as his childhood friend mentioned this.

"Makoto—" Catching the worry in his friend's blue eyes, Makoto smiled reassuringly at Haru.

"It's all right, Haru. It was all right last time, too—everyone was safe, and we talked about it because I wanted to. There's no need to worry." At this reassurance, the raven-haired boy just gave a nod, and Makoto turned back to Nagisa. "Is that why you had trouble sleeping? Before I fell asleep, I noticed you were tossing and turning a lot."

"…Yeah. That might be it, a little." The blonde's voice was quiet as he admitted this. "I…I know it's stupid of me…I don't think he would do something that impulsive again, after what happened, but…" But when the incident had happened during training camp, Rei had only been back outside for less than a year—and he had been attending high school and had been on the swim club for even less time. To think that he could have come outside just for him to…Nagisa shook his head furiously, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to dispel the thought.

Back then, the blonde had thought that he could now empathize with exactly what Rei had gone through when Nagisa had fallen from the maple tree in his yard at the age of ten. The only thing that had kept the blonde from weeping his eyes out in relief or lashing out at Rei after they had safely reached Sukishima was the reminder that Rei had experienced the same kind of terror that he himself had experienced that night. He also understood that Rei had just been trying to work hard so he could catch up to the pace of his fellow swim club teammates. Therefore, after pushing aside his own emotions, the blonde had focused on comforting Rei and, later, looking for Haru and Makoto, who had thankfully gotten to the same island. He didn't tell Rei that he had had nightmares about the blue-haired boy drowning for days after the incident—only Haru had known about them, and each time he had sat up in the tent he shared with Nagisa and comfortingly rubbed the blonde's back in silent understanding.

"…I don't get it." Rin's voice interrupted Nagisa's thoughts and made all three boys look up from the bonfire. "Why didn't you just go ahead and use the same tent as Speedo Glasses then? If it's me and him hitting it off that you were worried about, we're going to be on this island for another whole day—that's plenty of bonding time right there." After glancing at Nagisa, who was biting his lip and looking down at his lap in an unsure way, Rin sighed impatiently and rephrased the question.

"Why the hell haven't you straight up told him how you feel?" he said, in a tone that he had made a little more gentle. When the blonde looked up with slightly wide eyes, the redhead rolled his own red ones. "You're not fooling anyone but Speedo himself, you know. If someone like me who's barely been back on decent terms with you all can already tell, then I'm guessing Haru and Makoto would've already known since way back." His eyes flickered across the fire at the two boys as he said their names. "And don't pretend you're oblivious to it, Makoto—your _'I'm trying to be considerate'_ crap isn't doing a single thing for them." At this wording, Makoto sputtered slightly in protest before his eyes wandered to a slightly but not very surprised Nagisa.

"Is…is it that obvious, Mako-chan?" the blonde asked hesitantly. Struggling to find the right words, Makoto let out a mental sigh after a while and gave Nagisa an apologetic look.

"I did notice it earlier, Nagisa. And so did Haru. Sorry." Hearing the brunette's honest but gentle confession at first made the blonde flustered. Soon, however, the troubled look came back to his face, and his eyes dropped do his lap once more, his burgundy eyes hesitant again.

"I…I don't want to burden Rei-chan." His voice was small but firm as he spoke. "It hasn't even been a whole year since he came outside, and it hasn't been even five months since he started going to Iwatobi High with me. I could tell from the moment he stepped foot on campus—he looked nervous, but at the same time he seemed so excited about being back in school, starting a new part of his life, studying his favorite math and science, making new friends, doing new things like track and then swimming, with us…" The blonde's hands clamped around the edge of his shirt. "And I don't want him to be troubled by…by my feelings. At least, not yet—not when I can see that he's having so much fun out here, after being inside for so long…" Nagisa knew that confessing to Rei would probably be hard—but he also thought that trying to keep himself from telling the boy was just as hard. When his feelings for the brunette were only growing day by day…as the blonde sat quietly with his head slightly down, Makoto opened his mouth.

"It's because of you that he's been having fun all this time." The tall brunette's voice was gentle. "And although I can't speak for Rei—" Though, in reality, Makoto knew he could, because the bespectacled boy had been just as obvious with his feelings for the blonde, but he knew he had no business putting that out in the open when Rei should be the one doing it—whenever it would be that he was ready for it. "—I'm sure that he'd appreciate you telling him the truth. You know how much he appreciates honesty—and how much he appreciates you." He had meant the last remark to be a hint, though he doubted that the blonde understood just what those words really meant. Before Nagisa could reply, however, Rin cut in with a question.

"Someone want to explain to me about any of this?" Three pairs of eyes turned to the redhead, whose red eyes were looking puzzled. "What's this about being inside and outside? Did Speedo use to have a health condition or something?" It was then that the three of them realized Rin would have no clue what they were talking about—even Haru and Makoto did not know the full story of how Rei had been a shut-in just until the summer of last year, although they had been inadvertently thrown hints now and then as to Rei's situation. The only one sitting at the bonfire who knew the whole truth was Nagisa—and as the blonde wondered how he could turn the conversation around, a familiar voice sounded from behind the four of them and made all of them nearly jump out of their skins.

"For your information, Rin-san, I did not have a health condition." Their mouths dropped open as they all whirled around to see Rei standing on the beach behind them, shifting his red glasses up his nose as he spoke. "In fact, I believe I was what you would call a 'shut-in'."

_"Rei?!"_ "Rei." _"Speedo?!"_ The three seven-teen-year-olds then turned their eyes back towards a very red, very shocked Nagisa, whose lips were gaping open and shut silently and whose eyes looked as if they were about to spin. Noticing the blonde's extreme surprise, Rei blinked his violet eyes quizzically as he opened his mouth.

"What is the matter, Nagisa-kun? You look like you've just seen a ghost—ah, maybe that is not the appropriate phrasing. You look like you've just seen the strawberry shortcake on your plate explode before you could start forking it down." Seeming satisfied with his comparison, the blue-haired boy went on. "Did something happen before I came?"

_"R-R-R-Rei-chan!"_ The name escaped the blonde's quivering lips in a squeak. "I, uhm, I don't know what you're—"

_"So_, Speedo! What was that about you being a shut-in?" As Rin came to the rescue with this question, he subtly cast Nagisa a sidelong glance, as if telling the blonde that he would do him a favor just this once. "I've never heard this interesting story before. Do tell, do tell!"

"Rin—" Makoto's voice started warningly, but before he could continue, Rei shook his head.

"It's all right, Makoto-senpai. I—I actually wanted to tell all three of you about my past eventually. Although I can't say if I was planning to break it to you all when we were on this trip…" He smiled slightly. "But what's done is done—and if you're _that curious_ about my past, Rin-san, then I suppose it would not trouble me too much to sit down and tell you about it." His last remark was said in a pompous manner that had Rin rolling his eyes and letting out a _tch_ with his tongue.

"Rei-chan…" Nagisa looked at Rei, slightly surprised and awed. Rei met the blonde's eyes—and his own violet ones softened slightly before he smiled and gave the blonde a nod. _'If it's them, it's okay.'_ Reading the silent message behind this gesture, the blonde smiled back encouragingly and gave Rei a nod of his own. With that, the younger boy sat down on an empty log and cleared his throat before beginning his story.

"I suppose that, before I begin with the main story, I should tell you all about what my personality was like as a child…" The brunette went on to tell his story of what his early years at elementary school had been like. As the fire crackled next to the five boys, Rei told his friends about how he had used to be bullied, the day that his brother had saved him and taught him self-defense, how he had been able to protect himself afterwards but had still been alone—and how he had eventually met Yuuto in his fourth grade. As the four of them listened to Rei, all of them were silent—Haru simply watched Rei with his deep blue eyes, Makoto's expression shifted from concern to shock to sympathy, and Rin's red eyes grew wider as the story progressed. And Nagisa's own burgundy ones shone with reminiscence, understanding, and quiet admiration as he watched his friend tell his tale. When Rei continued and finished the story with how he had met Nagisa and had eventually stepped outside his house once more, all three older boys remained silent for a while. Makoto was the first one to speak up, his voice solemn and gentle.

"You've gone through a lot more than I imagined, Rei." His green eyes crinkled gently as he offered the blue-haired boy a warm smile. "Thank you for telling us about this. It really means a lot to us." On the log next to his, Haru nodded silently, his blue eyes glowing in the bonfire.

"Rei. You've done good, getting all the way here." Hearing this statement from the raven-haired boy, as well as Makoto's previous words, Rei blushed slightly in embarrassment.

"Th-thank you, Haruka-senpai. And it's—it's nothing that deserves your thanks, Makoto-senpai. I told you all about it simply because I wished to do so. And before this, you already told us—Nagisa-kun and I—about your past with the sea. I just wanted you and Haruka-senpai and Rin-senpai to know more about myself as well." He smiled a little ruefully at the three of them. "It must have been confusing, how I reacted when…well, when I found out about your previous fallout with Rin-san. And I apologize for that—I hope you understand why I may have done the things I did—and that goes for you as well, Rin-san," he added sincerely, turning to the redhead. He was a little surprised to find the older boy with a conflicted look on his face.

"The _hell_. After all the shit you went through—screw the apology, you've taken what happened far too well, in my opinion!" He looked a bit frustrated as he stared at Rei like he had just said that theories and calculations didn't matter to him anymore. "What the hell were you thinking, giving me your spot in the damn relay?! You should've just swum your Speedo ass along with these three at regionals—"

"Rin." This time, the warning voice came from Haru, who had started to frown slightly at the redhead. "You're shouting." At this rare reprimand from the raven-haired boy, the redhead promptly fell silent, his brow still knotted in a frown.

"…It's all right, Rin-san." Rei's mouth softened into a sincere smile as he looked at the redhead. "It's precisely because of what happened in my past that I wanted to do what I did. I assure you, I have no regrets about my decision at all." His mouth fell into a teasing smirk. "Or did you really want to see my fabulous butterfly at regionals that much, Rin-san? Don't worry, there are always next year's regionals to look forward to—Nagisa-kun and I are prepared to show you some new scenery ourselves!" He and Nagisa exchanged a look, and the second-years both smiled at each other.

_"Tch_—who the hell wants to see _your_ speedo ass swim?!" Rin retorted, scratching the back of his head to mask his embarrassment. "You're a hundred years too early to be spouting confident crap like that, when your form for the butterfly is a complete joke!" Upon catching the last remark, Rei drew himself up indignantly on the log towards the redhead.

"I beg your pardon, Rin-san?" Pushing his red rims up his nose with a hand, Rei continued. "If it's form we're talking about here, I am completely confident that I have all the theories down!" As the two butterfly swimmers bickered with each other, Haru turned to Nagisa.

"Nagisa." His blue eyes searched the blonde's face. "You all right?" The blonde seemed surprised at the question—but soon, he smiled at the older boy and nodded.

"Of course, Haru-chan!" His smile softened. "As long as Rei-chan's all right, I am too." He assumed that Haru was talking about Nagisa's fall from the maple tree, which had also come up in Rei's story as a necessity, as well as all the emotional turmoil he must have felt when he experienced the recent past with Rei. Hearing his response, Haru simply nodded and turned his attention back to the two butterfly swimmers, who had now started to have an English battle (_"'Super~b swimmer~!'" "'Su-paru-bu su-wi-mmar~!'"_) as they snapped back and forth at each other. Hearing their ridiculous fight made Nagisa crack up, and eventually Makoto joined in on the laughter as well. It was only then that the two finally looked up from their fight.

_"Tch_—the hell're you two laughing about?" Sighing, Rin scratched the back of his head as he looked off to the side with a frown. "Anyways, what is it with you, Speedo Glasses—waking people up with your damn sleep talk, then making this all seem like some confession time at a girly sleepover." At this remark, Rei rolled his eyes.

"Well, if I recall correctly, _you_ were the one who were so _curious_ about my past, Rin-san," he replied in a smooth but slightly teasing voice. "I was simply answering your question, and it just happened that my answer took a longer time to deliver." Sensing the laughing tone in the brunette's voice, Rin frowned for a moment. Then, his red eyes wandered over to Nagisa—suddenly, a smirk formed on his face, his eyes glinting with mischief.

"Oi, Nagisa. I can't sleep in that tent with all the damn mumbling Speedo Glasses is doing. Switch tents with me." At this demand, Nagisa almost fell off the log he was sitting on and Rei's mouth fell open in a stupor as his face promptly began to color red.

"Wh-wh-wh-what are you talking about, Rin-chan?!" The blonde's voice came out in a high squeak as he straightened himself up on the log, his own face a warm pink. "If I do that, then I won't be able to sleep from the noise anymore!" At this claim, Rei momentarily forgot his embarrassment and drew himself up indignantly.

"What the—just what is that supposed to mean, Nagisa-kun?!" His eyes swiveled towards Rin. "And I do _not_ mumble in my sleep, Rin-san! I have no idea what you're talking about—"

"Well, maybe that's cause you were _asleep_, Speedo." The redhead rolled his eyes. "And like I said, you sleep like a goddamn rock, Nagisa—you'd sleep through a freaking cyclone, even if it carried you all the damn way over to Oz and back. So get your ass inside that tent with Speedo, cause I'm sure as hell not sleeping out on the beach!" Faking a loud yawn, he got up and stretched out his arms, pretending not to notice the very prominent flushes on both boys' faces. "Oi Haru, Makoto, let's hit the tent already. At this rate we're gonna be up to see the sun rise."

"Nagisa. Rei." Haru looked at the two younger boys with solemn blue eyes. "Good luck."

_"Wha…'_good luck'…?!" _"Haru-chan!"_ As both Rei and Nagisa started to sputter, Makoto got up as well with an apologetic smile on his face.

"Have a good sleep, you two. See you tomorrow!" The three of them began heading to the four-person tent as the other two stood frozen next to the bonfire—both of them suddenly feeling very nervous. After a while, it was Rei who hesitantly opened his mouth first.

"Shall…shall we also go inside, then?" When he saw Nagisa's expression, he hastily added, "I mean, if you'd rather that you stayed out here to talk a little longer, I wouldn't mind that as well, Nagisa-ku—"

"No!" The loud squeak that came from the blonde's lips startled the brunette, making him shut up. "I—I'm feeling sleepy too." Looking the other direction to hide his flaming cheeks, Nagisa hastily gestured towards the tent. "L-let's go and go to sleep too! Otherwise we'll be sleepy tomorrow, y'know?" He hurriedly started walking in the direction of the smaller tent, leaving Rei to snap out of his daze before the brunette also hesitantly followed Nagisa to the structure.

The smaller boy was the first to enter the tent. His eyes traveling to one of the open sleeping bags on the tent floor, he walked over to it and plopped down, quickly zipping the canvas flap closed over himself. Rei nearly choked on his spit when he realized that the blonde had no way of knowing whose sleeping bag was whose, and had inadvertently crawled into the one that Rei had been sleeping in just an hour ago. Feeling his nervousness and embarrassment grow by tenfold, he opened his mouth to tell Nagisa that it was his sleeping bag—

"Wh-what's wrong, Rei-chan? Arent' you gonna go to sleep too?" Once he heard Nagisa's hesitant voice ask this question, Rei promptly closed his mouth—then opened it again.

"It's nothing, Nagisa-kun!" After squeaking out his own answer, he knelt next to Rin's sleeping bag and sidled his body inside it, also zipping himself up. For a while, silence rested between them, save the sounds of the ocean waves lapping back and forth on the beach outside. In Rin's sleeping bag, Rei held his breath, waiting for the sound of Nagisa's even breathing to reach his ears—but it didn't. Also not hearing Rei's breathing, the blonde squirmed slightly in the sleeping bag he thought was Rin's (it was red, and the sleeping bag Rei was in was purple, so in his mind there was no doubt that the red one belonged to Rin). After a while, Rei's voice hesitantly broke the silence between them.

"Are…are you having trouble falling asleep, Nagisa-kun?" At the sudden sound of his voice, Nagisa jolted a little in the red sleeping bag. Willing his heart to calm down, he slowly opened his mouth without turning over.

"Y-yeah. A little bit." He would rather die than tell Rei that it was because of how furiously his heart was pounding in his ribcage. From behind him, he could hear the brunette's puzzled voice as he responded to the blonde.

"That is rather rare of you, Nagisa-kun. As Rin-san said, you are a rather heavy sleeper—you do usually fall asleep quickly and stay that way, like a rock." Catching himself smiling affectionately at memories of the blonde dozing off on his shoulder on their train home, Rei mentally slapped himself in the brain for thinking such mushy thoughts.

"Geez, Rei-chan! Not you, too—don't refer to people as rocks!" Rei could almost see Nagisa's cheeks puffing out as he heard the blonde retort at him. "It's true that I'm a Hazuki, and it's true that sleep is the devil in my family, but that's no reason compare me to something that's not even alive!" At this, the blue-haired boy gave a good-natured laugh.

"Sorry, sorry, Nagisa-kun." Thinking that his friend was not sounding very sorry, Nagisa pouted and rolled over so he was facing Rei in the tent.

"B'sides, you're the one who sinks like a rock all the time, Rei-chan! If anyone's a rock, it's _you_!"

"Wha—I do _not_ sink like a rock!" Rei protested. "At the very least, not now—I have learned how to swim the butterfly since then, if I do need to remind you!" His face paled slightly as those memories of himself sinking to the bottom of the pool during his early days as a swimmer came back to his mind—they were most definitely not beautiful to remember, and he shook his head to clear it of them with a slight shudder.

"…But you can't swim the butterfly in the ocean." As the blonde said these words a little more quietly, Rei looked up towards the older boy—his face was still in a pout, but his burgundy eyes reflected…was it worry? Whatever the emotion was, Rei thought that his friend was looking a little…complicated at the moment. When the memory of the relatively recent training camp returned to him, Rei realized what the blonde had meant by his words. Clearing his throat hesitantly, he met Nagisa's burgundy eyes with his own and opened his mouth.

"I…I'm sorry, Nagisa-kun." His voice was soft, but sincere. "That time, I…I was acting rashly, and I wasn't thinking…I put you and Makoto-senpai and Haruka senpai in danger…and I even made you worry about me…I've always regretted what I did back then, and I can't apologize enough for it." At his admission, Nagisa's eyes widened—then, the blonde shook his head, with a soft smile.

"It's all right, Rei-chan. As Mako-chan said back then, we all ended up being safe. And we even had a heart-to-heart talk at the resort on Sukishima—" The older boy's burgundy eyes twinkled slightly at the memory. "It was super fun, hearing your embarrassing story about your school trip in third grade! And seeing you opening that refrigerator and being all scared, too!"

_'Cause it's 'Rei' for 'refrigeREItor!''_ Remembering the bad pun the blonde had made, Rei let out a groan.

"For your information, Nagisa-kun, that was not funny at all! It was no time to be making jokes with my name! And please don't try to get amusement out of other people's embarrassing memories!"

"Hahaha!" The blonde laughed a little before he fell silent once more. If Rei had not been facing him, he may have guessed that the blonde had fallen asleep—but the blonde's burgundy eyes were still open and looked as if they were pondering over something. A while later, his voice sounded once more, falling softly from his lips.

"Just…don't do something like that again, Rei-chan. M'kay?" The blonde didn't smile this time, although he did not frown either—his expression held a quiet solemnity that Rei had not seen from him for a long while. "I…I don't want to lose you." During this last sentence, his voice grew so small that Rei would have thought he had heard him wrong, had he not been facing the blonde and seen the gravity of his expression. After the words sank in, the brunette simply lay in his sleeping bag for a while, his breath caught in his throat, not knowing how to respond. Eventually, before he could reply, Nagisa opened his mouth to ask a question.

"Rei-chan. Can…can I come closer?" Rei froze—feeling the beginnings of a blush on his cheeks already, he struggled to keep calm and cracked his lips open.

"C-closer?" He cursed himself for stuttering on the first word. "Are—are you cold, Nagisa-kun?" Was it just him or did his voice sound a little high?

"No, it's not that. Just…" In the dark, Nagisa's cheeks were also turning a warm pink as he spoke. "I…I think I'll fall asleep better if I'm right next to someone. Since, y'know, I'm sleeping away from home and all…" His hesitant voice trailed off as he made the false excuse. "I, I know you like your personal space and all, so if you don't want me to, then—"

"It's all right." The words fell from the brunette's lips in an almost-whisper, his voice a little hesitant but accepting at the same time. "You—you can come closer, Nagisa-kun." Rei tried not to gulp in nervousness, because he felt as if the blonde would be able to hear him if he did.

"O-oh…" The blonde's burgundy eyes widened slightly before glowing with a soft light. "Okay." Slowly, he wiggled his body in the red sleeping bag until he was lying about five centimeters away from Rei. He cast a last smile at the younger boy before he turned his head around to face the ceiling of the tent.

"G'night, Rei-chan." Hearing the blonde's sleepy voice murmur those words, Rei's heart skipped a beat—maybe it was the situation that they were in that made the phrase sound a little more…intimate than usual. Mentally slapping himself for over-thinking things, the blue-haired boy responded to his friend.

"Good night, Nagisa-kun." After that, silence fell between the two boys once more. And once he heard Nagisa's even breathing next to him, Rei knew that the blonde had finally fallen asleep. Turning his head towards his friend, the brunette smiled fondly at Nagisa before he also turned his head to face the tent ceiling and closed his own eyes. Soon, the butterfly swimmer was also asleep, and the soft sounds of both boys' breathing filled the air in the tent.

…

When Makoto came to the smaller tent to wake up his two younger friends the next morning, he was surprised at the sight that greeted him when he opened the tent flap. What he saw made his green eyes widen, then made a gentle motherly smile spread across his face. Deciding that he would let the two sleep in longer, he closed the tent flap and walked back to the barbecue area, where Rin and Haru were having an early-morning cooking competition with the mackerel Haru had prepared for their trip.

Inside the walls of the smaller tent, the five-centimeter space between the two sleeping bags was gone. Instead, Nagisa was clinging to Rei's back, one arm that had escaped from the red sleeping bag curled around Rei as he continued to snore into the morning. Over the arm's wrist was Rei's own hand, which had somehow ended up placed on top of it during the night. As the two sixteen-year-olds slept in, a bit of sleep talk floated out from Nagisa's open lips.

"…Aww, c'mon…Rei-cha…it's all _five_ of us…it's fate…" In his sleep, the corners of the blonde's lips curved up into a happy smile.

When, surprisingly, Nagisa was the first of them to wake up, he looked at Rei's gently smiling face as the brunette slept. And maybe, he thought, he could bear with keeping his feelings for the brunette a secret—at least for a little while longer.

For the moment, Nagisa decided, he would just enjoy his secret crush on his best friend. And perhaps doodle on said friend's face before he woke up. His smile turning into a mischievous smirk, he rummaged through the belongings in the tent for a water-base marker. Little did he know that it would turn out to be oil-base, and by the time he found out (to his glee and Rei's murderous intent), the job was already done.

But it didn't matter to Nagisa anyways. No matter how he looked, Rei would always be beautiful to him.

* * *

**End Notes**

'After joint practice, Rin asks how in the world Nagisa and Haru and Makoto met Rei, which leads to a lot of embarrassment for Rei and delight for Nagisa, who tells Rin the tale with Rei's permission.'

...Wait, what? I'm confused, what is that? *cough*Surely not the prompter I wrote for this drabble before writing it.*cough*

I'm not even sure if I can call this a drabble anymore, since it's just as long as some of the chapters for The Window. And somewhere in the middle of my thought process, the setting changed to the Shimashima Islands (because while I'm a sucker for Episodes 3 and 4, I am also one for Episodes 5 and 6 for the obvious reasons). However, this drabble is set AFTER the regionals end, so I hope none of you got confused about that. I meant to make this chapter more friendship-oriented, but I couldn't resist throwing a bit of Reigisa in at the end, as always xD. I hope you guys enjoyed the result of my whims!


	7. On Nicknames and Proper Words

Time Setting: Hazuki Nagisa, age 16/Ryuugazaki Rei, age 16 (High School 2nd Year, Summer)

* * *

It was two months into the new school year when Rei finally asked Nagisa the question.

One day in June, when Haru and Makoto had been absent for lunch due to the day-long field trip their class was making to a museum, Nagisa had walked in with Yamazaki and Hana-chan, the three of them having gone out to buy their lunches at the school store. When the blonde saw Rei, sitting in the desk in front of Komura, both their bentos out on their desktops and discussing their recent math lesson, Nagisa couldn't help but smile.

Although it did make him a little jealous, the blonde was happy to see that Rei was making new friends as he slowly fit into his new daily routine that now involved seven hours of high school a day—and by this point, added after-school hours of practice at their swim club. While Rei had become closer to Haru and Makoto through the lunchtimes they shared on their rooftop and through their shared activities from the swim club, he had also made friends with Yamazaki and Komura in class, and although he was still a little shy, he could speak cordially with most of their other classmates in Class 2-1 as well. And although the fifth period before lunch bored Nagisa to tears, the blonde liked watching Rei secretly from his back seat in the classroom as the blue-haired boy listened attentively to their math teacher and took pages of immaculate notes down in his notebook, his violet eyes shining with attention and joy. (Needless to say, Takamura-sensei, who was famous for being hard on slackers like Nagisa and Yamazaki, loved Rei, who was easily his most brilliant student in their whole grade.) His eyes also showed the same sparkle during biology and chemistry, and somewhere in the middle he had successfully overcome his shyness and became an active participant in those classes. And although the brunette showed exactly the opposite emotions during their music and art periods (during which, inversely, Nagisa was the most awake and active, after their history period that is), Nagisa also had fun watching Rei during those lessons, trying not to laugh at the hilariously bad drawings that his friend produced with a grimace on his face and at his mechanical singing voice, which stood out markedly even when they had choir practice as a group (and even though he had not been able to suppress his laughter, Nagisa genuinely thought that Rei's singing voice was endearing).

And perhaps those very classes had been where Rei's friendship with Komura had truly begun. Although Nagisa had introduced Rei to both Komura and Yamazaki on the first day of school, they had done little more than made small conversation after that. But one day, Nagisa walked into their sixth period (art) a little late after he used the bathroom, and had seen Komura good-naturedly comforting Rei about his less-than-well-done drawing that Rei had been wailing about ("To think that I cannot even draw a decent-looking apple—that is not beautiful at all!"). And Nagisa had seen the brown-haired boy pat Rei on the back after their music teacher had yet again told the brunette to loosen the tension in his vocal chords. And although he was a little jealous of the hazel-eyed boy with round glasses, Nagisa had foreseen that Komura would be the easiest classmate for Rei to get close to (well, Nagisa liked to think that Komura was the easiest, right after _himself_—and maybe Makoto as well, but the older boy wasn't a classmate). Now that he thought about it, Komura even resembled a certain light-haired boy with grey eyes who had moved abroad the year before. They shared the same thin face, the same aura of modest intelligence, the same interest in subjects like math and science, the same kind of quiet perceptiveness and the same kind of quirkiness that stayed hidden at first glance but emerged now and then during their interactions with people close to them. But while Saionji Yuuto had a troubling past that had made him seem too adult-like, Komura shared neither of those characteristics. It did not mean that the brown-haired teen wasn't mature in his own way, but Nagisa felt like Komura was more honest and open with his feelings, and had a more boyish aura about him compared to Rei's friend from elementary school. Maybe that was exactly why Rei was able to befriend him so quickly—they shared similar interests and some parts of their personality were the same, but Nagisa thought that it was because Komura was more light-hearted and able to understand Rei's thoughts to a certain degree that they had decisively been able to become friends.

And as Nagisa watched Yamazaki walk swiftly towards the two bespectacled boys and throw his arms on top of their shoulders, giving them something between a hug and a headlock, the blonde also reflected on how the orange-haired boy had made friends with Rei—who was now choking under his cheery classmate's grip and indignantly demanding that the boy 'release him this instant, he was unable to breathe'. Although Yamazaki was almost the polar opposite of Rei personality-wise (he was more similar to Nagisa, although the key difference would be that he was kind of a natural air-head and was about as perceptive as a doorknob, which was actually kind of a trait that Rei shared as well in some respects, but the brunette was not nearly as oblivious as his classmate). Unlike Rei, who was the model of an honor student, the orange-haired boy was often snoring in his back seat during nearly all of their classes (he excelled in P.E. however, and competitive sports had been the one class that he had been able to bond with Rei over) and even when Rei sat with both Yamazaki and Nagisa to tutor them in math during breaks, the orange head was the first to lose his patience and fall back in his seat in a groaning pile of long limbs (the boy was 183 centimeters tall, the same height as Makoto was), while Nagisa almost always followed suit a few minutes later. But he also shared some of the same qualities that Nagisa had successfully used to his advantage to make first make friends with Rei—his cheery attitude and friendliness, his earnest nature (in fact, the orange head was almost stupidly honest, which was not what Nagisa was like, but they were both earnest to some degree), his curiosity (about things other than academics), and his perseverance at making Rei his friend (the blonde had almost considered putting a stop to Yamazaki's attempts because of the petty jealousy that reared its head again, but he knew that now was the time to shove that jealousy down and let the brunette make some friends). And although it was different from the relationship he had with Komura, Rei also formed a (grudgingly tolerant) friendship with the orange head, who always came up and talked to him first and kept poking at him to make the butterfly swimmer come out of his shell. And by now, Rei regretted that he had ever had a less-than-favorable first impression of the former delinquent, who _looked_ like he was still somewhat of a delinquent (and Rei's preconceptions had mostly been due to his history with a particular square-faced delinquent from his past) but had a stupidly kind heart.

And finally, as Nagisa watched the sandy-haired girl join the three boys with a cheery sparkle in her light blue eyes, he also observed the interaction between Hana-chan and Rei. He listened as his former classmate (they had been in the same class their first year but now she was in the class right next door) started off by congratulating Rei on getting the highest score on their chemistry exam in their grade, and watched as Rei sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and had modestly replied that his score had been 'nothing special' (though he wanted to go over there and give the brunette a lecture about underscoring his own fabulous achievements, the blonde restrained himself at the moment, continuing to observe the interaction before him instead). Then, right after the sparkle in Hana-chan's eyes turned into one of mischief, Nagisa heard his classmate casually ask Rei what he thought about the possibility of their chemistry teacher having something more-than-platonic going on with their biology teacher. Upon hearing this sly question, the brunette's face had turned slightly pale, as if he had been able to predict the onslaught of more detailed questions that would fly out of the girl's mouth, and his violet eyes shifted back and forth a bit nervously as he tried to politely respond that he honestly didn't know anything about the subject. But it wasn't because Rei did not like Hana-chan, Nagisa knew—in fact, the sandy-haired girl was a lot like her new best friend, Gou, and strikingly similar to Nagisa's own sisters, and Rei had come to get along with her the same way he got along with his swim club manager (his face paled the same way when the redhead gushed about (Rei's) muscles) and the Hazuki sisters (Nagisa didn't know, but once they caught Rei alone, the three women would not leave the brunette alone about his obvious crush on Nagisa, although Rei had never personally confessed to them about it). The blonde wasn't aware that Hana-chan also shipped him and Rei together, nor that the sandy-haired girl had been dropping Rei the same tips she dropped Nagisa now and then about being aggressive with their respective 'one-sided' loves (along with the bits and pieces of information she dug up on both of them, which she offered as bonuses that would 'surely be a great advantage in terms of using them to formulate their love strategies'). So Hana-chan was actually kind of like an older sister to Rei, or even a kind of nosy mother cheering on her son's secret love. And of course, Rei would always be grateful for her intervention that one summer day, when she had informed Rei that Nagisa was in danger and had even come to record the evidence with Kanemiya and his gang on tape—and so would Nagisa.

Finally feeling satisfied with his retrospective observations, the breast-stroke swimmer trotted over to his four friends and plopped down in one of the empty seats nearby, opening his mouth to get their attention.

"Hey, guys! How about we share all our lunches?" Nagisa's burgundy eyes sparkled as they wandered over to Komura's and Rei's still-packed bento boxes. "Me and Yamazaki and Hana-chan bought a ton of yakisoba bread—and I have a few Iwatobikkuri's if anyone's interested!" Upon this sly question, Komura rolled his eyes good-naturedly at the blonde.

"Hazuki, the few times you actually eat lunch with us in class, you've always snagged half the main dishes from my bento—_and_ another half from Ryuugazaki's!" His hazel eyes turned to Hana-chan and Yamazaki, who were also looking at him and Rei with sparkly eyes. "The both of you, too, Hanamura, Yamazaki—those sparkly eyes aren't going to work on me," he said teasingly. Nagisa's eyes moved to Rei—and was surprised to find that Rei was looking at Hana-chan with a slightly somber expression on his face. The blonde frowned slightly—he always thought that Hana-chan and Rei were on at least okay terms, but had something happened while he hadn't been around to see it? He was distracted from that thought when Yamazaki broke out with a whine.

"Aww, c'mon, Komura! Just a few pieces of _tonkatsu_—your mum makes them for you all the time, anyways!"

"Yeah, and about 30% ends up in your stomach, Yamazaki." Komura rolled his eyes again. "You and Hazuki both, I have no idea how the two of you eat that much and still manage to stay slim. Right, Ryuugazaki?" At the question, Rei nodded in agreement while swiftly pushing his glasses up his nose with one hand.

"Komura-kun is absolutely right. Both of your metabolisms are in good condition now because you are both still teenagers, but that may change when you grow older—it's not too late yet for the both of you to start considering changing your irresponsible eating habits." He turned his violet eyes towards Nagisa. "Especially you, Nagisa-kun—you eat the most out of all five of us, and if you ask me, you could afford to cut down a little on the strawberry cakes and pizza and actually start increasing your vegetable intake instead—and it would do you much good to start bringing healthier packed lunches to school instead of always resorting to the unhealthy stock at the school store—"

"Ehh~~? But that's not fair, Rei-chan! Those two are my absolute favorite foods, they're practically like oxygen for me!" the blonde whined. "I mean, it's not like I can cook as well as Rei-chan does—so just lemme eat your bento!" Upon hearing the complaint that was also a compliment, the brunette blushed and shifted his red glasses up with one hand in an attempt to hide his face. But before he could launch into a stuttering lecture that there were other ways to ensure a healthier diet, Hana-chan opened her mouth.

"What Ryuugazaki-kun is saying is that you'll start getting fat once you hit your thirties, Hazuki-kun!" she said teasingly. She cupped her hand next to her mouth and continued her words in a side whisper towards Nagisa. "And you wouldn't want him to think you're fat, would you now?" As she asked the question in a suggestive tone, Nagisa frowned a little as his cheeks started to grow pink.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Hana-chan!" When she heard the blonde attempt to sound innocent, the sandy-haired girl laughed. Feeling a little self-conscious now, Nagisa looked out the corner of his eye towards Rei—and found the blue-haired boy making the same somber face yet again, his violet eyes on Hana-chan as she turned to tease Yamazaki as well about 'growing a beer belly in his middle aged years'. The blonde then saw those same eyes move towards him, but then quickly averting their gaze once they made eye contact with the older boy's burgundy eyes. At this, Nagisa frowned once more, but this time the wrinkle in his brow was deeper than before. He wondered why Rei had looked away just now—and why had he been staring at Hana-chan with that sad look on his face—wait. The blonde's eyes widened as a sudden possibility occurred to him.

It couldn't be—that Rei _felt something_ towards Hana-chan? Was that why the brunette had tried to avoid his gaze? After all, he tended to do that a lot when he wanted to keep something a secret from Nagisa…were girls like Hana-chan even Rei's type? As his mind slowly began spinning out of control, the blonde's heart began to twist a little with pain at just the thought of that being true. He was startled when Rei's voice interrupted his thoughts with a question.

"Would you like a sausage, Nagisa-kun?" Startled, the blonde looked up to see Rei holding out the bento box towards him, looking the other way with a shy face. "J-just take one, mind you! I would like some left over for me to have, after all—"

"—Nah!" Suddenly not feeling all that hungry, the blonde forced a smile on his face. "I'll just have my bread, Rei-chan! Like you and Hana-chan said, I should probably start worrying about fat and calories and all that! Haha—" While saying this, he promptly began to munch on the yakisoba bread he had bought, cramming it into his mouth so he'd have an excuse to stay silent. The blonde was so preoccupied with his own irrational worries that he didn't even notice how Rei's face fell a little at his refusal.

But Komura certainly hadn't missed it. After Hana-chan popped over to her classroom to talk to Gou in the middle of the lunch period and Yamazaki went to the bathroom, it was the brown-haired boy who first intervened to diffuse the slightly awkward atmosphere between the two teens.

"Say, Ryuugazaki-kun, didn't you ask me a question about Hanamura the other day?" At the hazel-eyed boy's casual mention of the sandy-haired girl, both Rei and Nagisa looked up from their meals—Nagisa holding his breath a little in fear and curiosity, Rei looking a little panicked at the question. "You know, about why Hazuki calls her—"

"Ah, it's all right now, Komura-kun!" the brunette yelped slightly, face starting to turn pink. "N-now that I think about it, I don't see why it's strange for friends to call each other what they want—" Upon hearing his own name mentioned, Nagisa's burgundy eyes perked up with curiosity, the fear momentarily forgotten.

"What was that about me?" He directed those innocent large eyes of his towards Rei, who was now beginning to look even more embarrassed than he had been.

"I—It's really nothing important, Nagisa-kun—"

"If it's not that important, then just tell me what it is!" Nagisa insisted impatiently—while hoping to god that whatever it was, there were no romantic inclinations towards the sandy-haired girl involved. Taken aback, Rei turned to Komura with silently pleading eyes, but the brown-haired boy only responded with an encouraging grin. Gulping slightly, the brunette turned back to Nagisa, ears already starting to turn red.

"…I was just wondering…why you call Hanamura-san 'Hana-chan'." The question came out in a small voice from Rei's lips. Processing the question in a few seconds, Nagisa blinked owlishly at the brunette.

"Oh—so that's what you were curious about!" Looking back on the first time he had met the sandy-haired girl. "Well, the first time she introduced herself to me, she told me to call her 'Hana-chan', so I guess that's why!" He turned his burgundy eyes towards Komura and Yamazaki. "But these two have called her 'Hanamura' since cram school days, so they don't really use that nickname on her. And on the other hand, Gou-chan calls her 'Hana-chan' too, like me—probably because she made her debut with that nickname right after we first started high school!" Nagisa also thought Hanamura Chigusa used that nickname as her alias once she went around gathering information and back stories about other people—he'd seen her pass notes to her 'clients' with her signature flower doodle on it after all. "But I guess what people call her varies, depending on their personality and what kind of relationship they have with her. Most of the guys in our class from last year still called her 'Hanamura' cause they found it more natural, I guess!" And as for Nagisa, he had grown up with three sisters, so he was a little more comfortable being friendly with girls than some other boys his age—but rather than going about it like a player (which was kind of how Rei's older brother Ryouji went about it sometimes), he was kind of like a girl friend to his female classmates, who found him easy to approach and talk to (whether it was because of his physical stature and looks or his bubbly personality, Nagisa did not know, but it didn't matter that the girls he knew didn't seem to consider him romantically, because he only cared about one person that way, and he certainly wasn't one of those girls, all right). Holding his breath a little, the blonde turned his eyes back towards Rei before he asked the next question.

"So—is there any particular reason why you were curious about that?" His attempt at making his voice seem offhanded was failing, but thankfully Rei didn't seem to notice. He grew a little nervous with worry when the brunette began blushing, however.

"I…that's—" When the blonde was preparing for his own heart to be broken, Rei hesitantly continued. "That's because…well, I wondered if it was because—" His face flushed a darker red. "—well, she was the only female classmate that you referred to so casually—when you used to tell me about your school days as a first year…" His violet eyes began to grow shifty. "S-so I thought that maybe—that you, well—maybe she was special…" It took about five seconds for Nagisa to figure out what Rei was implying—and it only took a split second for the blonde to burst out into laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA—AHAHAHAHAHAHA—!" He slapped his hands on the top of his desk over and over as he keeled over, nearly choking on his breath from laughing too hard. Wiping his eyes, he tried to recollect himself as he held onto his stomach, which ached from all the motion and wheezing. "What—you thought I have a _thing_ for _Hana-chan_? That's one of the most hilarious things I've ever heard in my life!" Although Nagisa definitely saw a good friend in the sandy-haired girl, the prospect that he would see anything more than that was a hundred percent impossible—if not due to the fact that Hana-chan was a lot like his own sisters (and although he loved them in his own way, Nagisa most certainly did not want to date anyone that resembled the Hazuki women), then due to the fact that the blonde was head-over-heels for the very brunette sitting in front of him…the one who, Nagisa realized, had been looking at the sandy-haired girl with that somber look in his eyes more than once this lunch period.

"Rei-chan…you, you don't…" The blonde hesitated before continuing his question in a small voice. "You're not asking me this because…because _you_ have a thing for Hana-chan…are you?"

"…Excuse me?" The way Rei's face grew smooth at that suggestion relieved Nagisa more than he could express. "What in the world put that ridiculous thought in your head, Nagisa-kun? I was merely curious as to why you referred to her by that nickname—I have no idea how you could arrive at that kind of conclusion." He chose to ignore the fact that he had reached the same sort of conclusion about the very blonde sitting in front of him.

"Heh~? You weren't jealous because he calls Hanamura with a _–chan_ after her name too?" Komura asked, a teasing edge to his mild voice. "Since in our class, you're the only person that Hazuki refers to so casually—by their first name, and with a _–chan_ at the end, too!" At this suggestion, the brunette turned a beet-red, which also caused Nagisa's cheeks to color slightly and made the blonde's heart thump in his chest. The prospect that Rei might have been jealous over something like that sent flutters of hope and warmth through his chest—even if the jealousy was completely platonic, which the blonde was sure of, it made him happy to think that he at least meant something like what a person's best friend would mean to him. And of course, the fact that Rei had been so adamant about not feeling anything more than platonic for Hana-chan gave another boost to Nagisa's now quickly rising mood.

"I...is that true, Rei-chan?" The blonde asked a little shyly, suddenly feeling somewhat bashful when he called Rei by his usual nickname for the brunette. Now, hearing the question from the older boy made the breath catch slightly in Rei's suddenly dry throat. The younger boy's flush spread all the way to his ears as his mouth gaped open and closed soundlessly, his violet eyes a little wide and frozen on the blonde, who was waiting for an answer with those big burgundy eyes fixed straight on the brunette.

"I—that—I—" Finally stuttering out some words, the flustered butterfly swimmer cleared his throat awkwardly before squeaking out a partly-honest reply. "I did wonder if…if perhaps you were closer to Hanamura-san…than I had thought…" Breaking eye contact with Nagisa, the brunette turned his head to the side, shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose with one hand. Although the response was slightly vague, it was all that Nagisa needed to hear for his face to light up like a thousand light bulbs.

"REI-CHAN!" The delighted squeal that came out of the blonde's mouth was loud enough to attract the attention of their other classmates, who looked up from their lunches to turn their eyes towards him and Rei. So that was why Rei had had that somber look in his eyes, Nagisa thought gleefully—now fully convinced that platonic jealousy had been the reason, the older boy threw an arm around a very embarrassed Rei as he laughed in relief and happiness.

"Wai—Nagisa-kun! Please remove your arm, it's choking my neck!" None of the blue-haired boy's flustered protests were enough to deter the blonde from simply shifting more of his weight onto Rei. Seeing that the two of them were acting the same as they always did, their classmates soon returned to their own meals and lunchtime conversations.

"You don't have to worry about that at all, Rei-chan!" Nagisa continued in a cheery voice. "Sure, Hana-chan's great and all, but to me, you're the absolute _fabulousest_!"

"Fa—!" Rei's violet eyes fluttered even wider before the flush spread down to his neck. "Fabu—th-that isn't even a proper word, Nagisa-kun!" he protested, trying to mask his embarrassment. To think that a single phrase that wasn't even a word could make him feel…so happy…the brunette groaned in resignation as he buried his face in one hand, his ears feeling like they would combust any second. For about the millionth time, Rei was reminded that he was hopelessly in love with this silly blonde boy, despite the fact that he made up words, despite the fact that he was so different from Rei himself—maybe 'despite' wasn't the right word. By now, the blue-haired boy knew—that it was precisely _because_ of these traits about the blonde that he had fallen in love with him.

"Well, it _should_ be a word then, Rei-chan!" Not noticing the extent of Rei's feelings, said blonde's face took on a happy glow from behind the blue-haired boy's seat. Deciding that he liked the feeling of Rei's warmth and the faint smell of shampoo that was coming from the younger boy's blue locks, the breast stroke swimmer continued to hang off Rei's shoulders until lunch period was over, chatting the younger boy's ear off and stealing bits and pieces of food from his bento ("I thought you didn't want the sausages—I _offered_ one to you earlier, Nagisa-kun!" "Geez, Rei-chan! Don't fret about the specifics! I'm just feeling hungry all of a sudden, that's all!" "Please pack your own bento for once, Nagisa-kun!"). And all the while, Komura watched with a satisfied smile on his face as he ate his own bento next to the two boys, and Rei could not help but feel uncomfortable when he met the brown-haired boy's hazel eyes and they twinkled knowingly for a split second.

All in all, Komura thought, the mission had been accomplished for today. Thinking that Hana-chan might be proud of him, he hummed to himself cheerfully as Rei started to give Nagisa a lecture on proper diets and proper words next to him.

* * *

**End Notes**

Another drabble that was meant to be friendshippy but ended with Reigisa xD. I wanted to show more of how Rei adjusted to his high school life after he started Iwatobi High as a second year, and I also wanted to include how he becomes friends with Komura and Yamazaki, as well as Hana-chan. And even before he actually met her, Rei was a little jealous of Hana-chan after hearing about her a little from Nagisa, because she was the only female classmate that he mentioned regularly (see Chapter 5 of The Window). And although I had no initial intention of doing so, I made Nagisa jealous of her as well for a short time in this drabble xD (I feel like I've hit the limit of how oblivious they both can get, but perhaps not lol).

Also, the made-up word 'fabulousest' first comes out in Nagisa's thoughts in Chapter 4 of The Window, and since I like the word even though I made it up, I wanted it to recur somewhere in the story. I think making up words like that is something Nagisa would do, and even if he might lecture Nagisa about them (and gets indignant all the times Nagisa makes puns about his name with different words), I think Rei would find it kind of endearing, as I did while writing this.

I hope you guys enjoyed this drabble! The next couple will either have time leaps in them or deal with a longer length of time, so they may be hard to get used to, but as always I hope they are enjoyable to read also!


	8. Tears at Weddings

Time Setting 1: Hazuki Nagisa, age 14 (Fall)

Time Setting 2: Hazuki Nagisa, age 27/Ryuugazaki Rei, age 27 (Fall)

* * *

Hazuki Natsuki knew that her little brother had always been a crybaby.

Part of it had been innate, part of it had been because of his size and his comparatively cute looks that made him a bully magnet, and part of it had resulted from the fact that she herself and her two younger sisters had incessantly teased him and dressed him up in girls' clothing when they were all younger. Almost everyone who knew Natsuki thought she was a saint, because in settings where that sort of thing mattered and was a plus, she had made sure to act as one. So while most of her friends and acquaintances would say that she was kind, graceful, and ladylike, close to none of them were aware of her slight sadistic streak. While a small part of her had somewhat regretted making her little brother cry when he was forced into frilly dresses and ribbons, a greater part of her had thought her baby brother's face was adorable when he was crying.

So when Natsuki first took him to the cinema to watch a horror movie (she kept this a secret from their mother, because when she had first done this her brother had only been seven, and she herself had only been fifteen, and they had had to sneak into the theater playing the horror film after they had bought tickets for a PG-rated movie), she had honestly expected the same kind of reaction from him, perhaps with the bonus of him clinging frantically to her and burying his precious little head in her stomach out of fear. However, the auburn-haired girl was (pleasantly) surprised when she heard laughter from the seat next to her as they sat through the movie. When it was over, Natsuki's little crybaby brother had turned to his sister with big, sparkly burgundy eyes and a bright smile on his face, which she hadn't seen being directed at her for a while. When he asked her when the sequel would be out in theaters, Natsuki had been thrilled to discover that the love of the horror genre actually ran in their family (to some extent, anyways, since it was just her and her brother so far—the rest of the Hazukis avoided horror movies like they were the plague). So from then on, while she had still continued to play with her brother like he was her Barbie doll, she also had fun taking him to see the occasional horror film now and then.

It was during his junior high years that Natsuki's little brother had stopped crying entirely. Part of it was due to the fact that his sisters had stopped making him cross-dress (they had continued to do so into the year that he was in sixth grade, believe it or not, but after that year, both Natsuki and Naomi had gone to live in their college dorms), part of it was due to puberty (boys that age always hated showing what they thought were weaknesses, Natsuki knew), and a large part of it, as Natsuki found out much too later, was because during those years, her brother had felt too lost to even bring himself to cry. When he finally had done so in front of her, after she and Naomi had come home as soon as they could as a result of his phone call to them, those tears had made Natsuki the happiest out of them all. Nadeko had also been bawling next to her brother, having undergone a bad time at her new high school, and next to her Natsuki could see Naomi and her mother tearing up as well. As the eldest sister, she herself had barely kept in the tears as she enveloped her brother and youngest sister in a hug, in which the other two Hazukis joined right after. After the incident, they had all grown closer to each other than before.

That day had been in the early fall of her little brother's third year in junior high. Now, it was November of that year, and as Natsuki walked down the aisle of the church in her elegant white dress and veil, she could see her brother sitting in the second row of the pew, trying to hold back his tears. Next to him sat Naomi and Nadeko, the younger of the Hazuki sisters crying and the older one with an arm around her, with tears in the corners of her own eyes. In the row before them sat Natsuki's mother, who was wiping the tears that flowed down her face but exchanged a smile with Natsuki's father, whose hazel eyes were glowing with emotion as he was walking his daughter to the altar. Seeing her family members seated in the first two rows, each of them being happy for her in their own way, made a strong surge of love and affection well up in Natsuki's heart. All of a sudden, she had felt the tears pricking the back of her own eyes. Before she let them fall, however, her burgundy gaze wandered back to her little brother, who was pursing his lips together so the tears wouldn't fall. That was all she had needed to see to hold the tears back—when they met each other's eyes, Natsuki flashed him a mischievous, yet affectionate smile that she had only shown to those who were closest to her. In response, her little brother's eyes had widened—then, finally letting his own tears fall, he had shot a cheery grin back at Natsuki, teeth finally free of their braces and flashing white. The auburn-haired Hazuki daughter had made sure to etch that image into her memory before she turned her head and stepped up onto the altar next to her soon husband-to-be.

* * *

Almost thirteen years had passed since that day in the fall. And now, as she sat in the second row of the pew with her first child on her lap and her second child in her husband's arms next to her, Natsuki was the one who was leaking tears from her burgundy eyes. To her left sat Naomi, who was crying twice as much but roughly brushing the tears from her face with the back of her hand as they came—despite the fact that the effort seemed futile. Turning her eyes back towards the third row, the eldest Hazuki sister saw Nadeko sobbing her eyes out already, even though one of the two main characters of this day was not even halfway down the aisle yet. Next to her sat a man with dark-blue hair and violet eyes who Natsuki recognized as the Ryuugazakis' elder son. His face calm and grudgingly tolerant, he took the handkerchief that had been tucked in the chest pocket of his carelessly worn suit and dropped it onto the lap of the blonde woman next to him. In the matter of seconds, Nadeko had promptly picked up the handkerchief and was now blowing her nose into it loudly.

As the sound of Ryuugazaki Ryouji's indignant protests escaped from his lips, Natsuki turned around in her seat with a small smile. Her eyes moved across the three best men in the front to the other blue-haired man present in the grove of maple trees, who was standing next to the altar with a single daisy in his lapel and a nervous smile on his face. When he caught Natsuki's stare, Ryuugazaki Rei smiled politely at the Hazuki sister, and the auburn-haired woman returned the smile with one of her own. She then moved her eyes to the aisle, where a blonde man with a dashing youthful face and large burgundy eyes was walking, arm in arm with his tearful but smiling mother. As they passed near the second row of the pew, Natsuki's little brother, who had grown so much from the small crybaby boy he had used to be years ago, momentarily met his eldest sister's eyes. When he saw Natsuki with tears in her eyes, the blonde man's eyes widened—then, he flashed a cheerful yet mischievous grin at her, the same kind of smile that Natsuki had flashed at him thirteen years ago before the altar.

"Natsuki-nee's _crying~!"_ The sudden teasing shout from the blonde man caught the attention of everyone in the grove. For a moment, the auburn-haired woman's mouth gaped open as she stared at her little brother in surprise. Was it just her imagination, or was her little baby brother getting back at her for all the times she had teased him these past twenty-seven years? She heard her husband and even Naomi laugh next to her—and when she saw her brother throw a good-natured wink at her, she also started to laugh as well. When the laughter had subsided, however, they heard the sound of soft sobbing coming from the altar. The blonde man's burgundy eyes widened with shock as he turned his attention towards his soon-to-be-husband, who now had tears streaming down his own face as he wept.

"Rei-chan!" The appalled voice of Natsuki's brother exclaimed, surprised and slightly scolding. "I'm not even at the altar yet, and you're already crying!" All eyes turned to the groom who was standing at the altar, who was not even reacting indignantly as he usually would but was dabbing at his eyes with the back of his hand.

"I—I'm s-sorry—_sniff_—Nagisa-kun—" Rei managed to choke out, his voice full of emotion. "I'm—I just—_sniff_—" As he struggled to gather himself together once more, the eyes of the other groom standing in the aisle started to tear up as well.

"Geez—_sniff_—what's with you—_sniff_—Rei-chan—?" He tried to laugh through his tears. "It's a time to be smiling—_sniff_—you know—?" But instead, his breaths just came out heavier and heavier until he himself started bawling.

"UWAAAAHHHHHH REEEEIII-CHAAAAAAANNNNN! AND JUST WHEN I WAS THINKING I SHOULDN'T CRY BECAUSE I ACTUALLY HAVE A LITTLE MAKEUP ON! IT'S ALL YOUR FAAAAAUUULLLLLLLTTTTTTT!" As he cried, the crowd in the grove slowly started to laugh through their tears (and some with dry eyes). Hearing her brother's silly words, Natsuki also joined in for the second round of laughter.

She had thought her brother's crying face as a little boy was adorable. She had been relieved that he had been able to finally let out his tears when he had gone through a hard time during his adolescent years. She had been touched when he flashed his cheery grin through his tears at her wedding. And now, as she laughed and searched for the digital camera in her handbag at the same time, Natsuki was determined that she capture her twenty-seven-year-old brother's makeup-stained crying face on camera. It was only slightly out of revenge, she told herself, as she found the small silver rectangle and turned it on with her slim fingers.

Perhaps those tears from her brother had made Hazuki Natsuki the happiest out of them all.

* * *

**End Notes**

Oh wow, they were just high school students in the last drabble and NOW' I'VE MENTIONED THEIR WEDDING OMG *cries in disbelief* I feel like I'm marrying my own sons off *fills a pool with tears*

Lol, moving on, I have finally brought in the eldest Hazuki sister into the story (now I feel like I have given pretty much all the family members some degree of characterization, so yep, I'm pretty much satisfied). I thought about how I might incorporate her into the story, and since it was mentioned before that she gets married when Nagisa is in his third year of junior high (see Chapter 4 of The Window), I thought I could write a little of how Nagisa reacted when he saw her about to be handed away at her wedding. Hazuki Natsuki is her maiden name, of course, but I wanted to show her as part of the Hazuki family, so I decided to refer to her as a Hazuki. I hope you enjoyed reading her retrospect about her little brother. There are more drabbles to come on some of the important events that happen in Nagisa's and Rei's lives leading up to their wedding, so I hope you guys look forward to those as well!


	9. Confessions and Acceptance

Time Setting: Hazuki Nagisa, age 17/Ryuugazaki Rei, age 17 (Winter)

* * *

It was towards the end of their third year in high school that Rei and Nagisa began breaking it to the others.

The first people they had told were their parents. To Nagisa's surprise (but not Rei's), his own father had already known about their relationship. Since his boyfriend had not informed him of the conversation he had held with the middle-aged man at their fishing trip, the blonde had been considerably taken aback—but his surprise gave way to relief and, later, gratitude, when his father looked at him with quietly affectionate hazel eyes and told him that they had his full blessing. Nagisa's mother, who had been together with her husband when the two teens broke it to them, had also been less surprised than they had imagined she would be. After casting a look at Mr. Hazuki that said _'So this was why you wanted to talk about these two earlier'_ (they had previously had a conversation that neither Rei nor Nagisa knew about), Hazuki Nanami turned to look at her son, then at Rei's nervous but serious face, and then back at her equally determined-looking son. She told them that it might not be an easy road—they told her that they wanted to face it together. Only then had Hazuki Nanami let a smile form on her face, and with a soft but sincere voice, she also told them they had her blessings.

When they next broke it to Rei's parents, their reactions had been more varied. Reina had clasped Rei's and Nagisa's hands in her own and had informed them that she had already known, and that if they were serious enough about each other they also had her full support. On the other hand, Rihito had been more shocked—he eventually had fallen silent, studying the two of them with hesitant eyes. Only after a few days had passed did they hear Mr. Ryuugazaki's answer—and only a few years later did Rei learn from his mother that his father had spent those days tracking down and talking to his cousin, who was gay and had been shunned from the Ryuugazaki family after he came out to them earlier in his life. Although he had been surprised upon the revelation—he had not known that his father even had a cousin—it made Rei feel touched that after having gone through such history in the family, his father had still given the two of them his blessings, even if they had been a little late in the coming.

On the other hand, telling each of their siblings had been a much easier task emotionally. For them, what Nagisa and Rei did was not so much a 'coming out with their relationship' as it was a declaration of how serious they were about each other—if it had been anything otherwise, neither Nagisa nor Rei would have broken it to their parents in the first place. Besides, both the Hazuki sisters and Ryouji had already been aware of their brothers' relationship with each other, and while Ryouji gave an amused snort and a sarcastic _'Wow, you're dating? Never would've guessed!',_ the Hazuki sisters had each voiced their acceptance with different degrees of enthusiasm (_'So, when will you brats start planning your wedding?' 'Perhaps we can hold the meeting with our family and the Ryuugazakis this weekend—let me check my planner—' 'Oh my gosh! I can't believe I'm going to be an aunt!'_). While the comments from the Hazuki sisters had made both Rei and Nagisa flush beet-red (the last comment, made by Nadeko, had turned Rei's face pale), they had both been happy for their obvious support. And although his sarcasm had been expected, they also appreciated Ryouji's response, which indicated that he had already accepted their relationship and was treating it as a fact of life.

The only ones who they had told before their own families were Haru, Makoto, Gou, and Rin, and that had occurred in the spring of Nagisa's and Rei's third year. The incident had happened more or less by accident, when the four of them entered the locker room after a joint swim practice with Samezuka and saw Nagisa leaning Rei up against one of the lockers, the blonde's arms looped around the back of the brunette's neck, the taller boy's arms around the shorter boy's waist, sharing a kiss that was beginning to get slightly heated by the time their friends had walked in on them. While all four of them had, unsurprisingly, already been aware of the feelings their two friends had for each other, that of course did not mean that the incident had been any less awkward, at least for two out of the four of them. Haru stayed calm and stoic as always (he didn't care so much as long as the two of them didn't try anything offensive in the pool), Gou let out a fangirl squeal and had started raving about the two of them with her sparkling red eyes, which had been swiftly shielded by Rin as he turned to the two of them with a murderous glare that made Rei quail but didn't even make Nagisa flinch and snapped at them for 'defiling his sister's innocence', and Makoto had just stood there watching the whole thing happen with an awkward smile on his slightly pink face. Rei's own face had at first turned pale, then had proceeded to turn a beet red color, which spread to the rest of his body and was very much visible because he was only wearing a speedo at the time instead of his usual long-legged swimsuit (the reason, of course, having something to do with Nagisa's devious scheming).

And despite the fact that their relationship had pretty much been officially discovered, Nagisa stood there proudly, a cheerful grin on his face as he grabbed onto Rei's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. He had still held onto Rei's hand when somehow, all six of them ended up seated in the locker room five minutes later, with Rei's face still flushed scarlet and still looking mortified from what his friends had witnessed earlier, while the blonde had cheerfully told the story of when and how they had officially gotten together, his legs swinging on the bench next to Rei's stiff ones all the while. He had finished his tale with a half-joking, fully-serious _'And that's why none of you are allowed to hit on Rei-chan or get between us in any way, and the moment any of you do something like that our friendship is over!'_, which, to the blonde's delight, had earned yet another layer of blush from Rei. When Nagisa had proceeded to joke that they were free to hit on _him_, however, that had promptly earned a jab in his ribs from the blue-haired boy, and only about forty minutes of the blonde's wheedling and head-nuzzling against the brunette's arm as they rode the train home together, as well as the eventual sloppy kiss the smaller boy had planted on the taller boy's mouth on the empty platform of their last station, had been able to placate Rei's mood. All in all, the fact that their friends from swim club had been okay with their relationship had made both of them happy, and seeing the younger boy being jealous and ultimately being cute had been a special bonus for Nagisa. Not that the blonde had been surprised—he had always known that their friends would accept their relationship. The bonds that the five boys (and Gou) shared were strong and would not break that easily.

A few weeks after telling their families, Nagisa and Rei also revealed the truth to Hana-chan, Komura, and Yamazaki, who they had become closer to during the times they shared at Iwatobi High. Hana-chan had already known, and Nagisa wondered if his classmate had been receiving information from a certain red-haired friend of hers behind their backs—but even if that had not been the case, he had an idea that she would have been able to figure it out on her own. Komura had also caught on earlier—not only was Nagisa's former middle school classmate academically intelligent, he was also perceptive of other people's emotions. The only one who had been shocked was Yamazaki—and it was expected, since the orange-haired boy had always been on the dense side, even more so than Rei. To Rei's relief and Nagisa's expectations, revealing their relationship had changed anything important in their friendship with their classmates (although for one of them the experience had been more awkward and took time getting used to).

There was a reason that the two boys had chosen this time to come out to their families and friends. It had all started with a conversation, a serious one that revolved around their respective plans after graduating from high school. Sometime after the conversation, Rei had decided to apply to the engineering departments at colleges that were mostly in Tokyo, and Nagisa had started studying for the entrance exams for a local college in Iwatobi, where he planned to spend his first year figuring out what he wanted to do in his future. Though neither of them spoke of it, they both knew that they would probably spend a large part of at least four years apart from each other, and both of them had been thinking about where they wanted to take their relationship from that point on. Of course, neither of them had any intention to break up with each other—they had spent longer than four years away from each other before, and there was no way that they would let their time in college come between their love for each other. True, those years of college would turn out to be harder to bear than they thought, with more than a few strains on their long-distance relationship that would come along (but that was a story for another time). However, as seventeen-year-olds, they had been sure they could overcome the obstacles—as it turned out, they had been right—and as they had begun discussing this, they had given their future with each other a serious thought. And somehow, by the end of that conversation, they had decided that it was time to let their family and friends know. So they had. And for the most part, their love for each other had been wholeheartedly accepted by those around them.

There was just one person left who both boys had wanted to tell about their relationship—but they had not been able to. And the reason for that was because Rei had lost contact with him about a year after the person had moved overseas. One day, he had returned home from school and walked into his room to see the letter he had mailed to a hospital in America earlier that month back on his own desk. It had been sent back because the person no longer lived at the address, and Rei's mother had been the one to find it in their mailbox that morning. While he had called the hospital to acquire about the person's current location, they had told him that they could not disclose their patients' personal information and had hung up on him. Although Rei felt a little disheartened, he hoped that this meant the person had finally regained his health enough to go outside and explore the world as he had always wanted to. And for ten long years, the brunette had kept waiting for a red-and-blue-tipped envelope in his mailbox, had kept hoping that the person was leading the life he had always dreamt of leading.

When, finally, the light-haired man with twinkling grey eyes showed up before them on an autumn day ten years later, Nagisa and Rei had all the pleasure of telling him—that it had been partly thanks to him that they had made it this far.

* * *

**End Notes**

I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with how this chapter turned out. I personally don't have any experience with coming out, although I have heard stories about other people's experiences. I apologize if it seemed like I was skirting over the details or being too unrealistic about the experience in this drabble, and to any readers that I may have offended, I apologize for that too. My intention for these drabble series were that they would open up a few windows into both Rei's and Nagisa's future (and past) without the mood of the content being too heavy (although I in no way meant for what they experience in this drabble to seem like it is any less important than it should be). But all in all, this is how I genuinely think that their family and friends would have reacted to finding out the truth, and both Nagisa and Rei are really lucky that their loved ones are understanding and support them. Thank you for reading this drabble, and I hope you guys enjoy the next one as well!


	10. To Be Next to You

Time Setting: Hazuki Nagisa/Ryuugazaki Rei, ages 16~26

* * *

It was the autumn of their second year in high school when Nagisa and Rei first confessed their feelings to each other. After they agreed to become boyfriends that one fateful autumn evening, they had spent the following Saturday on their first date, which took place at the central aquarium in Iwatobi (the one that Nagisa had once dreamed of visiting with his 'girlfriend' in high school). Although the place had been jam-packed with people because it was the weekend, they had mostly been able to enjoy themselves and each other's company. The way that Nagisa's wide burgundy eyes sparkled as he admired the penguins from outside the glass and even imitated their shuffling way of walking at one point had made Rei smile fondly at the blonde and want to take a picture of him with his phone (which he secretly did a few times). The brunette did have a little trouble keeping track of Nagisa, as the blonde ran off several times to look at all the exhibits that caught his eye—that had certainly not been part of his plan for a perfect first date. After Rei complained about the blonde's behavior and said that he would get lost, Nagisa decided out loud that holding the younger boy's hand for the remainder of their date was the only solution to their problem—to which a flushing Rei vehemently protested because _'they were out in public and someone could see them any minute'_, but the blonde chose to wholeheartedly disregard that possibility. Even when they were outside the aquarium, the older boy did not let Rei's hand go, and despite the strange looks they were getting from the occasional passerby, the brunette felt his heart warm as he walked with the blonde's smaller hand tucked into his own, their fingers intertwined.

When it was time for them to be having dinner, Nagisa surprised Rei by saying he had made reservations for them at a nice sushi restaurant that was just twenty minutes away from the aquarium. Although Rei himself had made secretly made a reservation at the pizza restaurant that Nagisa loved, he was touched that the blonde had also planned ahead of time for their date and decided to himself that they could go there on their next date. Everything from the quiet and elegant atmosphere of the place to the taste of the sushi had pleased the brunette, and even though the blonde's chatter had stood out in the quiet atmosphere, Rei had not been bothered by it at all. On the contrary, it was Nagisa's cheerful voice and bubbly laughter that had made the dinner one of the best in his life, and although he had been aghast at first when Nagisa had snatched the tab first and paid for the whole meal (_"Of course I should get this, Rei-chan, I booked this place and you already paid for the aquarium tickets!"_), he had also been touched by the gesture.

But perhaps, the best part of their date had been their walk home, as the sky grew a dusky blue-black, the streetlights began to turn on one by one, and a gentle night breeze began blowing through the town of Iwatobi. On their way home, the two of them had stopped at the park, where they had first come together to treat each others' wounds a year ago on a summer night. They had sat at the same bench as that night, talked with each other under the soft glow of the same street light, and at one point had leaned into each other, holding hands and quietly feeling each other's warmth, both of their hearts beating a little quicker than normal. Rei had then turned to Nagisa and, gently taking the blonde's left cheek in one hand, kissed the spot where he had been grazed slightly with a knife a year ago. Nagisa had giggled softly and returned the favor, kissing Rei once on the nose, then on the corner of his mouth (which somehow made Rei blush harder than a direct one might have). It was only when they were back at the space before their houses before Nagisa pulled Rei down by the collar of his shirt and kissed him right on the mouth, at first lightly, then a little more passionately. Rei would have rather died than admitted that he had been a little disappointed when the blonde pulled away. But the older boy's flushed smile had reminded the brunette that there would be several more kisses to come, and the thought had sent a warmth surging through his heart.

* * *

Before the winter of that year, they continued to see each other at school, went over to each other's houses, and went on more dates with each other, whether after school or on the weekend. And every time that Rei looked at Nagisa, the blonde seemed more beautiful than the previous time. Every time that they touched, whether it was their arms or hands brushing together or whether they were holding each other in a tight embrace, the brunette felt as if his skin was on fire—he truly marveled at how he had managed to avoid combusting this whole time. Little did he realize that the blonde experienced the same intensity of feelings and sensations when he was looking at or touching Rei. Their desires to see and touch each other grew steadily into a pinnacle, until the dam holding them back burst on the night before Rei's sixteenth birthday, when a red-faced Nagisa showed up at the door of the lavender house that he knew Rei was alone in, and had told Rei in a small, trembling voice that he wanted to give himself to Rei, and would do so if Rei wanted him as well.

The words had nearly made the brunette faint—it would be a lie if he said he had never given this new step in intimacy a thought, and he had planned to read up on everything beforehand and set up the perfect moment for it to happen. But seeing the blonde so small and scared of rejection before him had given Rei the nudge that he needed, and in a trembling, breathless voice, he had told the blonde honestly that, of course, he wanted him as well. And it had been awkward, embarrassing, and a little scary, but none of those factors made the experience any less tender or loving. After fumbling a little the first time that night, they had tried a second time, and then things had gone better. The sight of Nagisa sleeping next to him in his bed the next morning, with only the top of Rei's butterfly pajamas covering his newly-paled skin, his golden blonde locks and eyelashes catching the faint winter sunshine that filtered through the gap in the curtains, had been one of the most beautiful things that Rei had ever seen in his life. Even though the brunette had panicked when he heard the click of the front door opening downstairs, even though he had to hastily shake Nagisa awake and both of them had to rush to get dressed and look inconspicuous before either of his parents (who had spent the previous night away on an onsen trip) could come up to his room and say happy birthday, even though he had to lie about Nagisa coming over for a sleepover to celebrate his birthday a bit early-on, Rei would hold the memory of the first dear in his heart for the rest of his life, just as he did with the memories of all other firsts with the blonde.

They celebrated Rei's birthday with his parents at lunch, went out to dinner with Makoto, Haru, and Rin, who had made time in-between studying for college exams, and before they returned to each of their respective houses, Nagisa had surprised Rei with a package wrapped in a butterfly-patterned wrapping paper with a purple ribbon. If there had been a little awkwardness between the two of them after what had taken place the night before, then it vanished (at least for Nagisa) when Rei turned bright red and stuttered out that he thought what they did the night before had _been_ the birthday present. Despite his boyfriend's mortified protests, the blonde keeled over his knees with hysterical laughter—he laughed so hard that he choked on his breath and Rei had had to smack him in the back a couple of times so he would stop coughing. He couldn't help it, the words sounded like Rei had taken it straight out of a shoujo manga, and it was then that Nagisa realized just how adorable the brunette could be all over again.

* * *

With the beginning of their third year, both Nagisa and Rei became co-captains for Iwatobi High School's swim club. Along with the tearful thanks and goodbyes that they had given Haru and Makoto at their graduation ceremony (and later, Rin, at Samezuka Academy's graduation), they had promised the two older boys that they would take care of the swim club and see it through until it became time for them to also retire from club activities. And it may have somehow been due to Nagisa's enthusiastic recruitment activities, which included somehow convincing Rei to do the pole vault out on track with nothing but a speedo on—the 'somehow' meaning that he had told Rei he could showcase his beautiful legs with both the speedo and the motion of the pole vault, which had kind of backfired because it had the girls squealing and had just made the blonde extremely jealous although the sight had delighted him probably ten times as much. Or it could have been due to Gou's cheery manager persona, which had earned her some admirers in addition to new recruits—thankfully, they had not been scared away when they later discovered her sparkly-eye fetish for muscles. Either way, by the end of the recruiting period, they had managed to bring enough first and second years into the club to ensure its continuance even after all three third-years graduated. Having their records of making it to regionals had also helped, and with hard work and training, Iwatobi High School's swim team made it all the way to prefecturals that summer. And although their team did not move on to nationals, both Rei and Nagisa were perfectly happy that they had gotten to swim a relay with their underclassmen, and again, with each other.

The two had also been delighted when Makoto, Haru, and Rin, who had each gotten off college for break and had come to watch their younger friends swim, came down from the bleachers to congratulate them. The photo that they took after the relay included the three older boys, as well as the underclassmen of the swim club, and of course, Rei and Nagisa, and even Gou. Rei had been happy to add yet another photo of his teammates to the bulletin board in his room, right next to the photo that he and his friends had taken a year before at regionals. And even when they retired from the swim club in the fall of their third year, Rei and Nagisa would still drop by the club now and then to see how their underclassmen were doing and give them advice.

* * *

As college exam season approached, Nagisa had grown more and more uncertain about what he wanted to do with his future. After watching Rei meticulously taking and reviewing his notes in class and studying after school hours, the blonde had thought that the brunette had his route after high school planned out to the tee. However, he found that he was wrong—when he had not been looking, he found out later, Rei had been researching a wide variety of colleges but still had no idea which ones he wanted to go to, and exactly which field he wanted to make his coming four years of study at. Upon discovering this one afternoon in Rei's bedroom, where he had accompanied Rei to do their homework together and unearthed a whole box full of college pamphlets and frantic pages of notes full of long-winded bullet points and question marks, they had forgotten about homework for the moment and sat down to have a long talk.

After they had each done the same with their family, and after days of thinking, they thankfully both arrived at some conclusions. Rei decided that he would narrow down his list of colleges to ones that had strong departments in the maths and sciences, and later, he applied for the engineering departments at some colleges in Tokyo and Osaka, and one in Iwatobi. And although he had considered just getting a job after graduation, Nagisa decided that he would also go to college as an open major to open up his prospects for his future and that he would spend more time in his freshman year thinking about what he wanted to do with his life. They both delved into studying for college exams that winter, and after they had taken their exams, they honored the other decision they had made with each other that day in the fall and told their families and close friends about their relationship. All the while, they held each other's hand, finding support not only from their loved ones but from each other's warmth.

When results came out later that winter, Rei found that he had been accepted at all of the colleges he applied to, and Nagisa was also notified of his acceptance at a local college in Iwatobi. Only one of them needed to choose between options, and as Rei stared at the acceptance letter from one of his colleges with glowing violet eyes, the blonde knew—pushing all his own selfish thoughts aside, he had taken Rei's hand and, giving it a squeeze, told him to go to Tokyo, to go out there and pursue his goals. And at the city train station the following spring, before they parted from each other for the first meaningful time in a long while, Rei swept Nagisa into a tight hug, burying his face in the crook of the blonde's neck between his head and shoulders, taking in his strawberry scent, saying a muffled _'I love you'_ into his soft skin and sweater. And it had taken all the willpower he had in his body and more for Nagisa to not burst into tears at that moment. Telling himself that he wasn't a woman sending her husband off to war, he hugged Rei back as tightly as he could and murmured those same three words back at the blue-haired boy—and the slight quiver in his voice was just more proof that he meant them.

* * *

During their first year in college, they bore each other's absence considerably well, comforting themselves by counting down the days until summer and winter vacation, telling themselves that they would do their best to reach their goals, that they would become better people, not just for themselves but for each other. Each vacation that they were able to reunite with each other was like a rare oasis in the middle of a long-stretching desert, and the memories from those times were their happiest of the year. And during the longer periods of time that they were away from each other, they sent texts and photos and phone calls and packages back and forth, and although these could never be a replacement for each other's company, they were also precious like rare drops of rain in the middle of a desert, and made their separation more bearable.

Their troubles began in their second year of college, when the events that occurred made it seem like their world was falling apart. The summer of that year was when Rei had gotten an internship offer that was a huge opportunity for him, as well as a way for him to earn several credits for his degree in engineering. He hadn't mentioned it to Nagisa because he didn't want to worry the blonde, but since last year he had been overloading himself with college credits each semester, because he wanted to apply for an early graduation so he could return faster to Iwatobi—to his family, to his friends, to Nagisa. The first year he had spent in Tokyo had been enough time for him to realize that, although the city had its own upsides and richness, there was no place he would rather be than his hometown, near the people he loved. Because it was so, and because he wanted to keep his plans a secret, he swallowed the pang of loneliness and longing that surged through his chest and dialed a contact on his cell phone. When Nagisa had heard from Rei that he would stay in Tokyo for summer vacation because of the internship, the blonde had just barely kept himself from screaming at him, begging for the brunette to abandon that opportunity and come home, come be with him instead. In a voice that Rei knew was falsely cheery, Nagisa had forced a smile and told Rei that he was happy for him, that he should take this opportunity, and not to worry about making him feel lonely, that he would be all right. And even though Rei could sense that it was a brave front the blonde was putting on, he didn't feel as if he had the right to try and break it down—not when his boyfriend was trying his best to show his support. Like in all their calls, they told each other that they loved and missed each other—and yet, the sound of the line disconnecting sounded hollow to both of them.

It was only a few days afterwards that Nagisa decided he would take a full-time summer job for about a month, until he had enough money saved up to go to Tokyo and surprise Rei with a visit. It was yet another decision that was kept secret by one of the two of them, and when Rei found that the responses to his texts started coming later than usual or sometimes did not come at all, that most of his calls were going to voice message only for the blonde to call him back at late hours with a tired-sounding voice (he did not know that it was the outcome of the older boy working as a server at a café fourteen hours a day, every day), and that the photos stopped coming entirely, he did not know what to think. It was one thing if Nagisa was angry at him, but what if…what if the blonde was growing tired of him…? Such thoughts made Rei's heart ache with pain and desolation, but at the same time, he could not bring himself to ask such a selfish question of his boyfriend, not when it was of his own accord that they could not see each other that summer. And as the days continued and Rei's hesitation, as well as his workload from the internship, grew by the hour, Nagisa also stopped hearing as frequently from Rei as he had used to. And every time he checked his phone and no new messages showed up on screen, the blonde felt as if his heart was slowly breaking bit by bit. Although he knew that Rei would be busy with his internship, he found himself on the verge of selfish thoughts now and then—that Rei had chosen the internship over seeing him for the summer, that the brunette couldn't be missing him as much as Nagisa was missing Rei, thoughts like that which made him feel miserable and guilty at the same time.

And when it had only been a month that had passed, it had been enough to put a noticeable strain on their relationship—one that both of them wished they could lift with all their heart. But when Nagisa was begged by the manager of the café, who he had become on friendly terms with, to stay on the staff for another month because all of his other experienced workers were quitting—and while they each had their own reasons, the café was just five minutes away from the bustling Iwatobi Central Aquarium and working fourteen hours a day, every day during the summer vacation period had probably worn out at least some of them into calling it quits—the blonde thought about it. He had planned to surprise Rei by going to Tokyo—but wouldn't the brunette just be busy with all the work at his internship? He wasn't even sure if Rei would have any sort of time for him—they were barely keeping in touch through their phone line as it was. To be honest—Nagisa wasn't even sure if Rei would be happy to see him waiting in front of his dorm room at the late hour that he would return from his internship. Rei's voice had sounded tired and a little hollow from what few phone calls that they had exchanged over the month—maybe the blonde would just be a bother. And as he stood, pondering over these depressing thoughts, the manager was still in front of him with those pleading eyes, holding his breath and waiting for an answer. And as it turned out, Nagisa ended up working yet another month that summer—his plan for a surprise visit to Tokyo vanishing into thin air and replaced by greater pangs of longing and loneliness.

Perhaps both of them had known that a huge fight was coming. There came one weekend in the fall when Nagisa could no longer stand it anymore—not caring that there were only two days and that he had tons of homework from all of his classes that weekend, he quickly packed his bags and caught the first train to Tokyo that Saturday. After getting off the train and reaching Rei's university, he spent a large portion of the afternoon getting lost on campus before finally finding the dormitory that his boyfriend was staying at. At the front desk, he filled out some papers and got a visitor's name card, and he headed up to the fifth floor, where Rei's room was located. When he rang the bell and found that the room was empty, Nagisa stood next to the door, doing his best to ignore the curious glances that other students living in the dormitory cast him as they passed through the hall. It turned out that Rei's roommate, a nice guy that reminded Nagisa a bit of Makoto and a bit of Rin in his good mood, returned first. Even before Nagisa had revealed that he was there to see Rei, the roommate had recognized the blonde from a few photos that Rei had shown him earlier. The guy had let Nagisa inside the dorm room, and once the blonde found out that Rei's roommate played the same horror games as him, they had been chatting animatedly about the newest game that had come out in stores when the door had clicked open.

When Nagisa first heard Rei's voice from the doorway, he had instantly felt a jolt of excitement and happiness run through him. But it had faded the next moment when he heard Rei call a girl's name and asking her to wait at the door while he gathered his notes for her to borrow. When the blonde had fully turned around, he had seen an attractive, mature-looking woman who he thought probably shared Rei's high intelligence and even looked like a nice person, from the pleasant smile she had on her face. And seeing her had made the smile drop from Nagisa's face in an instant. He didn't know why it made him so shocked, of course Rei could have female friends at his university, the blonde also had some back at his own college in Iwatobi. He almost didn't notice Rei turning around in the _genkan_ and dropping the textbooks that he held in his arms out of shock. But when he did, he definitely noticed the darkening of his violet eyes as well as the furrow of his brow—what Rei had seen was that Nagisa was sitting on his roommate's bed with the guy, as well as the opened snacks that were at the foot of the bed. Not saying a single word, the brunette had taken one look at the scene and had stormed out of the room, leaving behind his puzzled roommate and friend—and a hurt, panicked Nagisa who immediately leapt up and followed Rei out the door.

The blonde had barely stopped Rei by the wrist in the hall when the brunette whirled around and started shouting at him—asking why in the world he was here, and why he had been in the dorm room alone with a guy he barely even knew, sitting on his bed with him and eating snacks like they were best buddies. Hearing this wore Nagisa's patience thin, and it was not long before the blonde was also shouting as well—asking who that female college student had been, why he had brought her all the way to his dorm room when this was a floor for male students, why Rei hadn't been texting and calling as often even after the internship ended. It was the worst place that they could have their fight as well as the worst time for it to happen, and once Nagisa lashed out at Rei in the heat of the moment and accused him of putting his 'stupid Tokyo life' over their relationship, the brunette truly snapped. Seeing how the look in Rei's violet eyes turned stony had made Nagisa freeze, had produced a guilt inside him that made his blood run cold, and had broken his heart the moment he saw it. Not saying a word, the brunette had silently brushed past the blonde, not even looking at him, not paying any attention to the whispers of the audience that they had attracted in the hall. And only when he heard the door of the stairwell slam shut had Nagisa fallen to his knees on the floor, and when he realized that the wetness on his cheeks were tears, he had burst into a sob right there in the hall.

And for hours afterwards, Rei had spent the rest of his day walking aimlessly around Tokyo, without his cell phone or even his wallet on him. Just when he thought that his legs were about to give out under him, the brunette had turned his head towards the line of stores on his right—and he saw it. The row of daisies, white and yellow and orange and pink, planted in small ceramic pots and laid out in front of the flower shop. It was then that Rei recalled how, on a certain spring day of the year he turned seventeen, a certain person had handed him a single white daisy, a person with one of the most beautiful smiles in the world, a person who had told Rei that he was his miracle, a person who had accepted Rei despite all his shortcomings and weaknesses, had reached out and taken his hand over and over again with that gentle glow in those beautiful burgundy eyes. A person who, despite all the odds, had fallen for Rei, and had made Rei fall for him, had changed Rei's world. And, Rei realized with a sudden strong pang of regret, he had left behind that precious person after hurting his feelings, in a place where he knew no one but Rei, when he had come all the way to this city from home to see no one but Rei. When Rei had not even told that person about anything important at all. Upon this realization, Rei's heart seemed to sink to the bottom of his feet. Turning on his heel, he ran as fast, faster than he possibly could, rushing through the streets of Tokyo, then through his university campus, back to the dormitory, back to the hall on the fifth floor. But when he arrived, the blonde was already gone.

The calls began coming on Saturday night, then all through Sunday, when Nagisa was back at home in Iwatobi. He didn't pick up. He simply sat curled up into a ball in his bed, refusing to go outside his room for his meals, refusing to see or talk to anyone, not even Haru or Makoto or even Rin, who had heard from Makoto that he wasn't feeling well and had also called Nagisa on his phone. At first, it was because he felt angry—but the more he thought about it, the anger started to be replaced with guilt and despair. He realized that he had never told Rei how he had felt that summer—had never told him about the part-time job, had not gone to see Rei during break, had sprung the whole extent of his loneliness and pain and anger on the unknowing blue-haired boy. What had he said that Saturday afternoon—that Rei had put his life in Tokyo before their relationship? Nagisa couldn't believe it—how he could have said such a hurtful, selfish thing to the person that he loved, when he himself had encouraged Rei to go out there and follow his interests in the first place. And when he realized just how stupid and insensitive his words had been, Nagisa began feeling scared—he didn't know why Rei was calling, and if he was calling to—to end things for good—the blonde thought that his whole world would break in two that very moment.

On Sunday night, Nagisa realized that he had a fever—his body temperature was high, his throat sore and hurting every time he spoke or swallowed something. His mother, who was worried for her son's physical _and_ emotional well-being, told him to stay home from college on Monday. And, up until an early hour on Monday morning, Nagisa had taken up his mother's suggestion and had been sleeping in his room. It was only 5 AM when he heard the sound of something tapping against glass loudly, over the sound of the early-morning rain that had started to fall outside. When he opened his sleepy burgundy eyes a crack and looked towards the window in his bedroom, they had immediately flown wide open. Not thinking twice, he had leapt out of bed and, letting the wet towel fall from his forehead, rushed over and thrown the window shutters open.

And there he was—the tall, blue-haired nineteen-year-old with nervous but determined violet eyes, one hand firmly grasping a branch on the maple tree in the Hazukis' yard, the other holding the biggest bouquet of daisies that Nagisa had ever seen in his life. His clothes and hair and skin were completely drenched by now, even with the leaves of the maple tree partly shielding him. As the rain began turning into a squall, Rei opened his mouth to say something—but no sound came out. And there he hung, getting more drenched by the second, the raindrops gathering on the petals of the multi-colored daisies—and once the blonde had snapped out of his initial shock, he had shouted at Rei to _'hurry up and get inside here, he was going to catch a cold!'_

Once Rei had clambered into Nagisa's room and the blonde shut the window, it seemed as if the brunette had been unpaused. He pulled the blonde into a fierce hug from behind, burying his face in the crook of the blonde's shoulder and neck, saying over and over that he was sorry, that he had been acting selfishly, that he never should have left Nagisa behind in the hall that day, that he loved Nagisa even if he didn't deserve him and didn't want to let him go. And after the powerful gust of relief and warmth and happiness that Rei was finally truly back next to him, that he hadn't chased off the brunette for good, that none of the important things had changed after all, Nagisa turned around and threw his arms around Rei's torso, knocking him over onto the floor, sobbing out apologies and _'I missed you'_s and _'I love you'_s and practically squeezing the air out of Rei's lungs. And for the first in months, Rei stopped feeling lonely, started feeling completely whole and happy once more. His tears of relief and gladness and homesickness poured out all at once, and the two nineteen-year-olds spent a good amount of time on the bedroom floor crying their eyes out until they calmed themselves down.

Despite Nagisa's protests that he should return to Tokyo for his classes, Rei ended up staying until Friday, first to make sure that the blonde recovered from his fever and then to recover from a fever of his own that he caught from holding the blonde into the night (the morning after, Nagisa had woken up completely recovered, and he had happily told Rei in an authoritative voice that he was going to tend to Rei's health _no matter what_). When Naomi later told Rei in a light-hearted voice that she had called the office and _'excused his absences ahead of time for him'_, Rei had to wonder just what sort of an excuse she had come up with, but he was grateful to the Hazuki sister all the same.

They spent the days resting, laughing, enjoying each other's company, and talking. Rei told Nagisa about his plans to graduate early, that he had taken the summer internship as a part of those plans, that he had missed the blonde too much all these months, that he had no reason to worry about the female classmate from that time because she had only come to borrow his math notes and already had a boyfriend (and even if she hadn't, Rei added, the only one that he would ever look at was Nagisa), that their dormitory floor was actually co-ed (Nagisa had only seen the side of the floor reserved for male students), and that he had been irrationally jealous of his roommate (who, Rei had grudgingly admitted, was very popular with the other students at the university for his good looks _and_ his more-than-decent personality). In return, Nagisa told him that he had been working a full-time job that summer so he could go and make a surprise visit to Tokyo to see Rei, that that had been the reason he could not text as often or answer Rei's calls, that his fears and uncertainty about their relationship had kept him from actually going through with the visit then, that he had made the trip on Saturday because he didn't think he could go longer without seeing Rei, that no roommate or any other person, however popular or attractive or dashing, could live up to Rei in his eyes, which would look at Rei and Rei only. They made up with hugs, kisses, touches, and words from the heart, and as they snuggled together under the covers one evening they promised that they would confide in each other more about the important things that came up in their lives.

The next time Nagisa made a visit to Rei's dormitory, he called before coming and made sure he stayed on Rei's side of the room. Rei decided that there was no need to tell the blonde how he had kindly asked his roommate to go kill a few hours somewhere else—there was no telling how badly Nagisa would tease him if he knew, and Rei decided that that was something he could keep a secret. And when they happened to run into the female college student Rei was acquainted with, Nagisa didn't think it could do any harm to stick to Rei like glue and even kiss him on the cheek once. She was the only person to see it happen and from the amused twinkle in her eyes, she didn't seem to mind too much, despite Rei's own deep mortification and beet-red face as he stuttered out excuses to try and cover up the situation. But it seemed that half the floor already knew Rei was dating a guy—they had argued in front of several pairs of eyes in the hallway that day, after all. As it turned out, it was a college with a pretty liberal atmosphere, and Nagisa felt relieved that Rei had not been confronted or bothered in any way about his sexual orientation. The blonde privately decided that even though it was far away from home, the school might not be so bad after all.

* * *

Both of them missed each other just as much their third year of college, but now that they weren't keeping the big things from each other, it made the year a little easier to bear. Nagisa let Rei panic about his workload at college and his graduation thesis over phone calls, and Rei let Nagisa soothe him by telling him stories about his life at college and about Haru and Makoto, who had also decided to pursue further studies in Iwatobi, and by telling Rei that he was brilliant and beautiful and totally capable and everything would turn out all right. Although the stress nearly did kill Rei, he successfully graduated at the top of his class with flying colors the following spring and returned home to Iwatobi in all his glory, to the celebration held in his honor by his family and friends and the person he loved.

Because of his accreditations and earnest efforts, it didn't take Rei long to find a job as an engineer, for a company that was not big but had a great working atmosphere and truly valued its workers, one that Rei honestly preferred over all the job offers he had gotten from much bigger companies in Tokyo. And as it turned out, the company was able to successfully expand over the years and make its name in Japan. (Much later in his life, to Nagisa's complete envy and delight, Rei even got the chance to work as an Imagineer for a few years—and the years that the two of them spent together in California would forever be a precious memory in their lives. But in the end, despite all the sunshine and Mexican food and their beloved frequent trips to Disneyland, both of them wholeheartedly agreed that Iwatobi was their one and only home, and there was no place like home to return to.)

In the spring of the year he turned twenty-two, Nagisa also graduated from the history department at his college in Iwatobi. Over the years he had decided that he wanted to become a history teacher, and after he and his family and friends and Rei celebrated his graduation, he immediately began to search for a job opening at middle and high schools in Iwatobi. However, because of the downturn in the economy and the resulting lack of jobs, he met with little success for about half a year. Seeing the blonde looking so depressed and not his usual cheerful self had pained Rei, and although he did still talk about his days at his own job at Nagisa's firm insistence, the brunette wondered if there was something else, anything, that he could do for the blonde.

And seeing Nagisa alone in the yellow house next door, after his mother had left to live with his father abroad, after his sister Naomi had left for Tokyo as a result of job transfers, after Nadeko had moved into an apartment that was closer to the law firm she worked for, Rei thought he might have something that he could do after all. He was very careful about suggesting it to Nagisa, partly because he was sure the suggestion also came out of his own selfish desires, partly because it wasn't his own house, and partly because it would no doubt open a new door in their relationship. But when Rei asked Nagisa if he could move into the yellow house next door, the blonde had tackled him to the floor of his bedroom, shouting out a very enthusiastic 'yes' and squeezing the breath out of the blue-haired man.

After talking it over with their respective parents and getting permission, Rei moved into the Hazukis' house that late spring, into the room that had used to belong to Natsuki. And although they lived right next door to each other for years, the experience was new, was very different, with both its upsides and downsides. The upsides were that they could now come home to each other, spend more time with each other in private quarters (which entailed them to many private moments to come in the future) and grow closer in the warmth of each other's company. The downsides were that they had to grow accustomed to each other's living habits—for Rei it was the messy lifestyle that Nagisa led, and for Nagisa it was Rei's constant nagging and insistences that they keep the place perfectly clean and organized (and even besides that both of them would discover many other idiosyncrasies about each other). They had small fights now and then, with a few bigger fights in-between, but eventually, they found a middle ground and settled into a rhythm that soon became their every day, with Nagisa making an effort to clean up around the house more and Rei making an effort to come to terms that the house was still livable even if it wasn't perfectly clean most of the time. And once they had been living together for three months, Nagisa solemnly declared one evening that he would no longer be able to live without Rei's cooking, and although he did want to slap himself for it Rei thought he might understand the happiness a housewife must feel when her cooking was complimented by her husband. Maybe, the blue-haired man thought one morning when he woke up once again to Nagisa softly snoring next to him, he was way more head-over-heels in love with the blonde than he had thought.

* * *

The autumn that followed was one of the happiest times that the two shared. When Rei was relaxing on one of his days off from the company, Nagisa had burst into his room with an envelope in his hand and one of the brightest smiles Rei had seen on the blonde during these past months. It turned out that he had gotten accepted into the position of history teacher at Sanada Middle School(!) after one of the teachers suddenly quit there. Although Rei remembered what sort of a time the blonde had had during his junior high days at the school, he saw how happy his boyfriend was about the job—considering he had been out of work for half a year, it was completely understandable and even relieving to Rei, since it seemed as if what had happened at Sanada in the past did not seem to have as big of a hold over the blonde now.

And although the flashbacks still came now and then when he roamed the halls of his old middle school, Nagisa found that he was very much enjoying his job as a history teacher—he hit it off with his students from Day 1, charming them with his bubbly personality and cheerful jokes and entertaining anecdotes about history (and sometimes even about his own life, but he made sure to keep those short, he was a professional after all). And by the end of that semester, he was well-loved by most of his students and even had a substantial number of fangirls among them. The blonde was also pleasantly surprised when, about two years later, he walked into the teachers' office one morning and found a familiar man with brown hair and hazel eyes behind smart under-rim glasses, occupying the cubicle that had formerly belonged to a math teacher who had quit last year. It was his former friend and classmate Komura, who had graduated in the spring after completing his master's degree in mathematics. Rei was also surprised when he heard the story from Nagisa after they both returned home, and as the years passed Rei would hear more stories about how the pair of them would have fun teaching the same students and looking back on their past with each other during lunch breaks.

* * *

The year Nagisa turned twenty-six, two major events happened.

One of them came in two parts and occurred in the same afternoon, when the blonde history teacher was sitting in his classroom after school and waiting for one of his third-year students from his homeroom to come in with their parent for pre-high school consultations. As the door slid open and his burgundy eyes looked up towards the entrance, Nagisa dropped the pen he had been twirling absent-mindedly in shock. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open when he saw the young woman standing behind his student. It had been years since they last saw each other, but even then Nagisa could recognize who she was—she was the girl that he had known in junior high, the one who had gotten pregnant and miscarried, the one who had nearly died of abuse from her boyfriend.

Well, now she was a grown-up, and Nagisa could tell that she looked just as surprised to see him in the classroom. When Nagisa's student referred to her as his stepmother, the blonde's eyes had grown even wider, nearly the size of goose eggs. They tried not to stare awkwardly at each other as they went through the consultation—and the thoughts in Nagisa's mind began racing rapidly through his head during their interaction. When the woman had been about to leave the classroom after her stepson, he had stopped her by the arm and told her with an earnest voice that he was glad she seemed fine, that he hoped she was happy now. And although the woman had been surprised, she eventually smiled back sincerely and thanked him, said that she hoped he was happy now as well. And although they had not discussed the incident, had never been close enough to discuss such a thing openly with each other, Nagisa felt a certain kind of relief and gladness filling his heart after years of lingering shock and guilt. Returning to his seat in the classroom, he had been whistling cheerfully while turning his pen with his fingers, only to drop it a second time when the door opened and his next student walked in with his elder sister, a raven-haired woman that Nagisa recognized as Honjou Misaki, who he had last seen at his elementary school reunion eleven years ago.

Gulping, the blonde knew then that he was in for yet another awkward consultation period—and when it all ended well with he and his former classmate exchanging apologies, he marveled at how not one, but two people from his less-than-pleasant past had turned up like that in a row. But when he told Rei about both awkward reunions at dinnertime in the yellow house, his boyfriend had taken his hand with a gentle smile and had told Nagisa he was proud of him. And just that one gesture and that one phrase was all it took to fill the blonde's heart with warmth, and he had felt embarrassed at the tears of relief that had welled up in his eyes only after he had come home from the nerve-wrecking events of the day to the violet-eyed man. Wondering if he could have handled things the same way had he not met or reunited with Rei that fateful spring, Nagisa strongly felt—not for the first time—that he was beyond lucky to have Rei, to still have his best friend and boyfriend in his life.

The second thing that happened in the twenty-sixth year of Nagisa's life affected not only him, but him and Rei, and many, many more couples living in the country of Japan. It had been the result of years and years of protesting and lobbying and fighting, which both Nagisa and Rei had only known through the news all that time. In the winter of that year, the prime minister appeared on television and proudly announced that marriage between two persons of the same sex had been successfully voted on and legalized in their nation.

When they heard the news on television, Nagisa had spat out the stew in his mouth as he was finishing his meal at the table, and Rei dropped one of the dishes he had been washing in the kitchen. When it fell to the tiled floor and broke into several pieces with a loud shattering sound, Rei snapped out of his shock and immediately knelt down to pick up the larger pieces, panicking in his flustered state, apologizing to Nagisa over and over for breaking one of the Hazukis' platters. Thinking Rei would hurt himself at this rate, Nagisa also snapped out of his daze and hurried over to the kitchen, firmly lifting Rei's hands away from the ceramic shards, saying that he would get the broom from their storage room and that Rei shouldn't be picking up sharp objects with his bare hands. Leaving a blushing Rei in the kitchen, the blonde had headed over to the storage room, his own heart pounding like a taiko drum in his ribcage.

All of a sudden, it seemed, they might have new things to think about—things that they had never expected to be thinking about. And, as it turned out, the younger of the two of them was the first to reach a conclusion the following spring.

* * *

**End Notes**

And again, this was a (long) descriptive drabble. I tried my best to summarize what I thought were important points in Rei and Nagisa's relationship or in either of their respective lives (I felt that summarizing was the closest I can get to showing everything I wanted to show about their life together before I REALLY start being weighed down with all the schoolwork, and I'm sorry if it feels like I am rushing with my writing). I tried to elaborate more on the events that I thought needed more detail, and if this drabble still left some questions unanswered, the events beyond the ending point of this chapter will be dealt with in the next two chapters, and I'm pretty sure the twelfth drabble will be the last one. If it's about the events that came out within the time period in this chapter, then feel free to ask any questions you guys might have (though I will probably deal with some events and details from the past in those two chapters as well).

As always, thank you for reading this chapter! ^^


	11. Fate is What We Make It

Time Setting: Hazuki Nagisa, age 27/Ryuugazaki Rei, age 27

* * *

He could tell Rei was pondering over something serious.

Nagisa wasn't sure when exactly the brunette had started thinking about it. But now, whenever they were home in the Hazuki residence together, the blonde noticed it—the younger man's violet eyes rapt with something secret, glowing with that far-away look they always took on when Rei was deep in thought. Once, when the blonde came home and called out to Rei, he heard no one answer. Having seen Rei's shoes in the _genkan_, Nagisa knew that his boyfriend was home. It was only once he looked in his own bedroom that he found Rei, sitting in front of the window that faced the lavender house next door, staring at the empty window of his own bedroom across the fifteen-foot gap between the two houses. Seeing the same far-away look in his eyes once more, Nagisa tapped Rei gently on the shoulder. When a startled Rei looked up, the blonde smiled down at him, his burgundy eyes glowing under the reddish-orange light of the evening.

"Wanna go drop by to see your parents, Rei?" he asked, not questioning what the brunette had been thinking about. Just yesterday after work ended for both of them, they had gone over to the Ryuugazaki residence to have dinner with Rei's parents—but still, Nagisa was sure that Mr. and Mrs. Ryuugazaki would love to see their son no matter when the time. The blonde knew they both felt a little lonely with Rei living next door to them now, and sometimes he still felt a little guilty about taking their son away from them (because he knew Rei had moved into the Hazuki residence at least partly because he had seen that Nagisa was lonely in the empty yellow house). But Rei shook his head in response, smiling softly at his boyfriend.

"No, it's fine. We've seen them yesterday, and you look tired, Nagisa. You should rest—and actually, I could use some rest as well." Over the years that they had lived in the yellow house together, Rei had eventually stopped using honorifics when he called Nagisa, as well as his polite speech when addressing the blonde (Nagisa took immense pleasure and pride in being the _only one_ who Rei didn't use polite speech on). Nagisa had done the same with Rei, dropping the _–chan_ from the brunette's name, and the intimacy of the action had made Rei's heart beat when he first found out that was how the blonde would always call him from now on. Well, almost always, since both of them slipped back into using honorifics, either on purpose or incidentally when there were moments that called for it one way or another. For Rei, it was mostly when he felt the need to give the blonde a good lecture; for Nagisa, it was mostly when he was teasing Rei or was either sweet-talking to him or trying to wheedle him into doing something; and for both, it happened when they were feeling particularly emotional. Neither of them minded, since calling each other 'Nagisa-kun' and 'Rei-chan' almost always came with some waves of nostalgia and sounded particularly loving because it reminded them of their past days together.

And now, one of those names resurfaced as the blonde suddenly felt the urge to shower Rei with affection. Kneeling down on the floor, Nagisa wrapped his arms around Rei in a warm hug and nuzzled his head slightly in the brunette's chest (he had grown a little taller than his days in high school, but he was still about a head shorter than Rei).

"Hey, Rei-chan. Wanna cuddle in my bed?" Although there were a few nights when either or both of them felt particularly exhausted and slept in separate rooms, most of the time they slept in the same bed together (whether it was Nagisa's bed, or the guest bed in Natsuki's old room that Rei used). Upon hearing the blonde's old nickname for him, the blue-haired man buried his face in Nagisa's soft hair and smiled into it.

"That sounds good, Nagisa-kun." Giggling quietly, the blonde walked Rei over towards his bed without releasing his hold on him and fell on his side onto the mattress, making the brunette fall with him as well. As the blonde began cuddling the younger man with his suit still on, Rei opened his mouth in protest.

"You should change first, Nagisa-kun! Your suit will get wrinkled!"

"Mm, I'll do it later, Rei-chan." Nagisa's voice came out in a content purr as he snuggled his head against the crook of Rei's neck. "Just let me lie down for a bit." Hearing his boyfriend's drowsy but happy voice, the younger man couldn't help but smile a little. Wrapping one arm around the blonde's waist, he snaked the other arm around the blonde's shoulders, his calloused hand landing in Nagisa's hair and stroking it gently. When he heard the blonde began to snore, the brunette sighed and decided that he would let his boyfriend nap a little before waking him up and making him change out of his suit.

…

His curiosity increased by tenfold when he heard Rei making calls to Makoto and Haru, and even Rin. One evening, when the blonde walked past Rei's bedroom in the yellow house a few times, he heard the brunette's quiet, serious voice talking to each of their friends on the phone, and besides catching their names from the conversations, the blonde also heard his own name fall a few times from the blue-haired man's lips. Partly because both Rei and Nagisa had agreed not to eavesdrop on each other in these situations and partly because Rei's voice was too quiet, Nagisa hadn't known just what his boyfriend had been talking about with their three best friends. Hoping that Rei would eventually tell him about it on his own, whatever 'it' was, the blonde treaded quietly past the closed door, his thoughts full of the man that he loved very much.

…

It was when he came home one spring evening after his working hours at the middle school that Nagisa finally found out what it was.

The sky had started to drizzle just as the blonde was walking out of the middle school. Not having an umbrella on him and deciding that a ten minutes' walking distance wasn't worth buying one from the convenience store, Nagisa had put his suitcase over his head and started running through the rain instead. In about five minutes, he reached the yellow house and ran under the eaves of its porch, Rummaging through his pants pocket for the house keys, the blonde man found them and quickly turned the keyhole with the small silver key. Shivering slightly, he threw the door open and hurriedly stepped inside, closing it behind him and shuffling out of his soggy shoes at the _genkan_. As he did, he noticed that Rei's shoes were already there as well—a sign that the brunette had gotten home from work before he had.

"Whew—I'm freezing!" The blonde shook his head a little to make some of the raindrops fly off his golden locks. Teeth chattering slightly, he called out in a loud cheerful voice to Rei.

"I'm home, Rei! I think I just barely avoided the squall!" As he said these words, he heard the rain start to pelt the hall window harder from outside. Heading through the front hall, he came into the living room to see his boyfriend standing next to the living room window. "It's a good thing the school's only a five-minute run away, though—I thought about calling you to come with an umbrella but I thought you might still be at wor—"

His words were cut short when a pair of strong arms suddenly wrapped around him, tugging him forward. The blonde blinked in surprise against Rei's chest as the brunette held him tightly, burying his face in the crook between Nagisa's shoulder and neck. He felt Rei's body trembling slightly as he stood there with his boyfriend wordlessly hugging him.

"…Rei-chan?" Twisting his head up to look at the taller man, the blonde's burgundy eyes frowned slightly with worry. "What's wrong?"

"…I love you." The words fell in a quiet but earnest whisper from Rei's lips. Not having expected to hear these words from the brunette—it had been a while since Nagisa had heard Rei use that tone to address him, and the blonde felt his heart speed up slightly as his cheeks began tingeing scarlet.

"…Rei…" The older man's burgundy eyes lidded slightly. Hearing the blonde murmur his name softly made the blue-haired man tighten his hold around the smaller man.

"I…I don't have a ring with me right now. I've been looking around, and I still can't seem to find the perfect one—and I was planning to do this after I found one—a-and, practiced a little, but—" At the mention of a ring, Nagisa's burgundy eyes widened—while Rei's own violet eyes were shut tightly, his lashes fluttering with emotion. "And—and I know that…that it might be a difficult road, because—because of society, and because it's never an easy road—" Pausing, Rei took a breath in an attempt to steady his voice before continuing. "And I'm not sure what the future might hold for us…but I know one thing for sure, Nagisa, and it's that I want to be by your side, always…" As he said the next words, Nagisa's breath caught in his throat.

"So…would you stay with me, Nagisa?" Rei's voice fell from his lips in a slightly quivering whisper. "For the rest of our lives…?"

For a long moment, the question was the only thing that hung in the air between them. When Nagisa had processed the words, his pink lips had fallen open in utter surprise, his heart thumping slowly but heavily, the beat growing stronger with each second. All of a sudden, a million voices flooded his head all at once—and fighting to keep his head clear (because he didn't want to freak out and make Rei panic), he slowly drew back from Rei's arms. Going a little on tiptoe, the blonde reached up to quietly kiss Rei on the cheek. As he drew back, he met the blue-haired man's nervous violet eyes with his own burgundy ones.

"I love you too, Rei." His usually loud voice was soft, and every bit sincere as Rei's voice had been. "That's why...I think I need some time to think. Is that all right?"

"Of course." The brunette's voice was quiet but understanding. "I'll go home next door until—until you think you have an answer." At this statement, Nagisa initially drew himself up to protest—but seeing Rei's expression and considering the situation they were in, the blonde stood back down, smiling softly at Rei.

"Okay. I'll miss you though, Rei-chan." Suddenly, the blonde was reminded of a summer night twelve years ago, when he had said a similar thing to fifteen-year-old Rei before he went inside his lavender house to ponder over his future. Stifling the urge he felt to stop twenty-seven-year-old Rei by the hand, the blonde later saw his boyfriend out the front door with a packed bag and another soft kiss, this time on the lips.

…

He spent all of the next day at the middle school in a daze. Because he had forgotten to set his alarm and Rei wasn't there to wake him up that morning, he had been late to school—and even after he apologized to the students in his first period class and picked up the chalk to start the lesson, he found that he was so preoccupied with Rei's proposal that he had written the kanji for 'marriage' instead of the name of the particular shogun that he was supposed to give a lecture on that day. He hadn't even been able to play it off as a joke in front of his students, flushing beet red when they teased him, asking if he had proposed to his lover the other day. And instead of being his usual cheerful self with his many entertaining history anecdotes and quirky comments, he went through his lessons as if he was walking through a dream. In the hallways, he bumped into more than a few teachers and students while traveling back and forth from the classrooms and the teachers' office. During breaks and lunchtime, he sat at his desk with his chin in one palm, his mouth hanging open slightly and his usually active burgundy eyes staring off into space with an absent-minded look. Having already heard the rumors going around amongst the students, Komura had cast the blonde a knowing look but had not interrupted his train of thoughts, leaving him alone to get lunch with some of the other teachers.

The more he thought about Rei's proposal, the more he realized that it wasn't a question of whether he loved the violet-eyed man enough. No—it was more of a question of 'were they ready', and maybe even 'did they need this shift in their relationship to stay together forever'. And to be completely honest, the blonde had no clear answer to either of those questions. Wondering if Rei himself had come to a conclusion to them, the blonde spent the rest of lunch period searching through his own heart for answers.

…

It was when he called out to Rei from the _genkan_ of the yellow house that he realized how much he had grown used to coming home to the brunette. Remembering after five seconds that Rei was either at work or in the lavender house next door now, the blonde shook his head slightly in an attempt to get his mind back on track. After shuffling out of his shoes and straightening them up (Nagisa imagined Rei's voice lecturing him on 'keeping the _genkan_ neat'), the blonde stepped into the front hall and headed straight for the stairwell. Traveling upstairs, he went into his bedroom to change out of his suit—and happened to look out the window that faced towards the lavender house next door.

Seeing the window of Rei's bedroom in the neighboring house, which was open but empty at the moment, the blonde began reminiscing about the first time he and Rei had met as ten-year-olds, the first time he had seen the brunette at his bedroom window. He remembered how happy he had been to make friends with Rei a little with each day, and how elated he had been when he had first seen Rei smile and laugh. The memory brought a reminiscent smile to twenty-seven-year-old Nagisa's face—he hadn't known it seventeen years ago, but now he was sure that Rei had become his first love from that very moment. Realizing with a small jolt that it had really been seventeen years since that time, the blonde blinked a little in surprise and in awe. Except for the years they had been apart (once as adolescents and some more during their college years), it felt as if all that time had gone by in a flash—and maybe it was because Nagisa had fully enjoyed his years together with the brunette, who he truly loved from the bottom of his heart. Had it really been eleven whole years since they first started dating? It sounded like a much longer time than it had felt. Dazed by the reality of the fact, the blonde suddenly felt a tug of nostalgia in his heart. And as he stood there at his windowsill, his eyes traveled to the calendar hanging on the wall of his bedroom.

Tomorrow was a Saturday, a day off. And in that moment, Nagisa decided how he would spend the next day.

…

The first place he visited was the school shed at Taneda High School. Marveling a little at the fact that the old, crumbling shed was still there in the same place after all these years, the blonde gingerly pushed the shed door, which slid open with a creak. The smell of dust and rotting wood filled Nagisa's nose, and he coughed slightly as he looked around the structure. Although there were a few stray pieces of equipment lying around, it seemed like the shed wasn't being used or kept clean by the school anymore.

Wondering if Taneda High planned to knock down the structure and build a new one, the blonde's eyes wandered to small window that was letting in sunlight. When he was fifteen, he had crawled through that very window to save Rei from Kanemiya, despite the fact that he hadn't had a clear plan for it. He probably wouldn't be able to crawl through it now…his eyes wandering through the rest of the shed, Nagisa recalled how Rei had protected him from the delinquent, how both of them had fought through Kanemiya's crowd to escape the shed—how the delinquent had threatened to hurt Nagisa with a knife, and how Rei had dropped to his knees at the boy's demand—even now, the blonde found as he fingered the right side of his cheek absently, he hadn't regretted the risk he had taken, biting down on the delinquent's arm when the knife had still been his hand. He would rather have been cut a few times than seen Rei bend his pride to such a person. Remembering how he had grabbed Rei by the wrist, how both of them had run into the night, out of breath and their hearts racing from the excitement, the blonde turned back towards the door of the shed, deciding he had seen enough of the place.

…

The next place that his feet took him was the train station nearest his house. Stepping onto the familiar platform, he boarded the train in a familiar direction, sitting in the seat that had been his usual spot for many mornings and evenings. As he sat on the train, swinging his legs and humming absent-mindedly, he almost felt as if he was a high-schooler again—the only differences were that he was not in his high school uniform, and that the seat next to his was empty. Closing his eyes and leaning back in his seat, the blonde imagined high-schooler Rei sitting next to him on the train, his nose buried in a physics book, looking up when he heard the usual cheery voice from next to him, lecturing him about his bedhead and his sloppy uniform, listening to Nagisa talk about their swim practice after school, letting the blonde doze off on his shoulder in the evenings… When he stepped off the train at Iwatobi Station, the blonde was remembering how safe he had always felt with Rei on the train, even when both of them had fallen asleep against each other and missed their stop.

As it turned out, Iwatobi High was open on Saturday for the clubs that held extra practice or meetings. Walking inside the school gates, Nagisa entered the school building that he had entered many mornings in the past, passing the shoe lockers that had once held his and Rei's names, walking the halls that he had run through while dragging the brunette by the arm behind him, peering into familiar but different classrooms where they had talked and laughed with their classmates. The last place he visited was the school roof, where he and Rei had always had lunch with Haru and Makoto, and then sometimes by themselves after the two older boys had graduated. He recalled how the brunette had allowed his younger self to steal a few pieces of his bento and had grudgingly let him nap with his head on the younger boy's lap when no one was around to see. Walking to the roof's protective fence, the blonde looked down and saw the school pool, where the two of them, Makoto, Haru, Gou, and later their underclassmen, had had so many swim practices together. Along with the sight of the pool came a flood of memories about the relays their team had swum together at the regionals and the prefecturals. They made a smile spread across the twenty-seven-year-old's face as he stared at the gently rippling surface of the chlorine water in the pool, the afternoon breeze ruffling his blonde locks.

…

An hour later, the blonde walked out of another train station and saw the familiar structure of Iwatobi Central Aquarium in the close distance. He bought a ticket and went inside, wandering through the crowds of visitors who had gathered there for the weekend, his eyes shuffling through the many displays of sea creatures with a twinkle in his burgundy eyes. He stopped for the longest time at the penguin exhibit, where sixteen-year-old Rei had lectured him for running around in public while they were on their first date. With fond eyes, the blonde man remembered how the dark-haired teen had blushed when his sixteen-year-old self had insisted on holding onto the brunette's hand during their date, so they wouldn't get lost from each other. In reality, he had just wanted to hold Rei's hand—and even after they left the aquarium, he hadn't let Rei's hand go. Remembering how Rei had stopped protesting somewhere in the middle and had even entwined their fingers together made Nagisa smile, and he unconsciously reached over to grab his boyfriend's hand—only to remember that he wasn't next to him at the moment.

As he was walking out of the aquarium, another place unexpectedly caught Nagisa's eye. Standing across the street in the corner was a café with glass walls, where Nagisa had worked as a college student in the summer that Rei could not make it home from Tokyo. He went inside the café and ordered a caramel macchiato, and as he sat at a seat next to the window and absently sipped the drink, he recalled the hot days that had dragged from one to the next as he blended drink after drink behind the counter and almost frantically went around serving tables and tables of endless summer customers. He remembered how he and Rei had missed each other's calls often, how the texts between them had petered out in number as both of them grew busier, how Nagisa had at first intended to make a surprise visit to Rei's college with his earnings, only to change his mind once—then change it again later in the fall. The blonde remembered the uncertainties, the insecurities, the doubts, the misunderstandings, the jealousy, the despair—and the utter relief and happiness he had felt when the brunette had come all the way home to mend things back. Thinking he knew where he wanted to go next, Nagisa stood up and tossed the empty paper cup in the trash before leaving the café.

…

Boarding the train at the station, he rode for about an hour until he got off at the stop nearest his house. However, he did not head home—instead, he walked to the public park nearby, finding his way to that one special bench. Where he and Rei had treated each other's wounds, one of them carefully and meticulously, the other with shaky hands but with just as much care. Where they had sat again a year later after their first date, had reminisced about the summer of their fifteenth year, had exchanged gentle kisses on the face. And now, twenty-seven-year-old Nagisa sat there alone, his eyes closed, feeling the evening breeze drift through the park, a slight tingle in his eyes that must be from the street lamp turning on—his hand feeling strangely empty.

…

An hour later, he was standing in the yard of his own house, looking up at the maple tree that had stood there for all seventeen of those years. Tracing its elegantly sloping branches and green star-shaped leaves with his eyes, the blonde recalled all the different memories that involved that tree—the time when he had fallen from its branches as a kid, the time he had overcome his fears and scaled down the trunk to go and save Rei, the time that he had opened his window and saw nineteen-year-old Rei in the rain, perched on those very branches with a giant bouquet of daisies in his hand, his skin and clothes drenched. With his palm on the cool bark of the tree, the blonde man's eyes traveled again to the particular window in the lavender house. Only the curtains swished in the breeze from behind the window frame.

His footsteps took him around to the back door, carried him inside the yellow house, led him through each and every room. At the kitchen, he saw Rei cooking dinner, heard him say that the blonde shouldn't try to nab the food while it was heating up in the pot or the frying pan. In the dining room, he saw Rei sitting across from him at the table that was too large for two but seemed full, the brunette's eyes glowing with attention and his lips parting with the occasional comment or laugh as he neatly ate his food and wiped the blonde's mouth with a napkin at the end of the meal. In the living room, he saw Rei sitting at the sofa with a newspaper or a book in his hands, saw himself leaning against the brunette's shoulder as they both watched TV or just sat and talked. In the _genkan_, he saw Rei opening the door with his own house key, straightening the shoes that Nagisa had kicked off after coming home from work before stepping into the front hall.

He ascended the stairwell and heard Rei's softer footsteps following him, the brunette's voice telling him not to run up the steps. Entering the hall, he opened the door of the room that Rei used—with a neatly made up bed, clothes folded tidily in the closet, a clean and organized desk, and a bookcase full of books on math, science, engineering, track, and swimming. There was also a bulletin board full of photos that included his family and friends and Nagisa, and objects that represented precious memories—among them a red maple leaf, an aquarium ticket, a note written in fifteen-year-old Nagisa's slightly messy handwriting, a bookmark made out of a pressed white daisy… Suddenly feeling homesick in his own house, the blonde walked over to Rei's bed and dropped face-down on the sheets, inhaling and searching for the scent that would remind him of the blue-haired man, fisting his hands in the cotton. He wondered how the brunette would react if he saw him now, acting like he was a teenager alone in his crush's bedroom for the first time. When he started remembering all the times they had whispered sweet words and made love in that bed, Nagisa felt a little too warm and decided it was time for him to get up.

At last, he walked down the hall and entered his own bedroom. His eyes fell on the bedside table, where the glass globe with the delicate silver penguin and butterfly and tiny red leaves had sat for twelve long years, the first thing that had greeted his eyes each morning. He rummaged in the bottom drawer for his box of keepsakes, and took out the note that had been addressed to him on his fifteenth birthday, the words penned neatly and carefully—_{It reminded me of you.}_ After fingering it a little, he placed it back in the box and stored it back in the drawer. His eyes traveled to his own bulletin board, some of the same photos from Rei's on there as well, including the two-shot of his and Rei's sixteen-year-old selves that fall, standing under the maple tree with red leaves stuck in their hair. Next to it hung an Iwatobi-chan strap, the wooden bird with a chip in its side that had been made one summer twelve years ago. Laughing slightly at the memory (_'It's a war injury! A noble one!'_), the blonde's burgundy eyes turned towards his bookcase.

Seeking out a particular book from his childhood days, the blonde finally found it on the top shelf. Reaching for it, he pulled out his favorite picture encyclopedia of bugs, one that not only held illustrations of his favorite insect but was also infused with memories of a blue-haired boy, ten and sixteen and all the years in-between. When he opened its pages, the musty smell of old paper hit his nose. He could see that the pages had yellowed and grown a bit wrinkled with the years—it had been a long time since they last saw sun. By memory, he turned the pages forward, shuffling through them until they were open to the two-page spread that he was looking for. He expected to see the familiar display of the purple butterfly that he had always loved, the wings that had reminded the blonde so much of a certain boy's violet eyes—and he did. But that wasn't the only thing he saw—his burgundy eyes also caught sight of a slip of paper falling out. Picking up the paper, Nagisa's eyes widened once he saw the familiar handwriting, penned neatly on the white square.

_{Let's go see them together someday.}_

He remembered how Rei had helped clean his bedroom in the spring of last year—how the blue-haired man had lectured Nagisa about maintaining a basic state of living sanitation while dusting the top shelf of the bookcase. He wondered if that had been when the brunette had slipped in the note, perhaps on a small sweet impulse of wanting to surprise his lover in the future. Seeing the note in his hand, the blonde felt his eyes start to tear up a little, and he blinked them to keep the drops in.

At that moment, a spring breeze drifted in through the open shutters of Nagisa's bedroom. It made the note fly out of the blonde's hands and flutter under the shadows of his bed. Yelping in surprise, Nagisa immediately crawled over to the bed, crouching down to look under the frame. The smell of dust reminded him that he had not looked under that bed for years—nor had he even once moved it from where it had been placed seventeen years ago, when he and his family had first moved into the yellow house. Groaning a little, he reached with his hand under the bed, feeling for a slip of paper and finding it. He was in the middle of pulling it out when he felt another object—something small and round and wrapped in plastic. Blinking in curiosity, the blonde's fingers also curled around the object and pulled it out from under the bed. When sunlight fell on the object in his hand, he stopped short, staring at it with wider eyes.

In his palm was a familiar piece of strawberry candy, wrapped in pink plastic wrap. It had a visible layer of dust coating it. It had also stopped selling in stores years ago, and the blonde had thought that he would never see it again. But here it was.

The tears started to flow down his cheeks at last. His sight grew blurry as he stared down at the small miracle in his hand.

He was sure now. It was fate. It always had been.

Wiping the tears with the back of his hand, he stood up, pocketed the candy, and ran out of his bedroom.

…

Rei was sitting in the living room of the lavender house with the television on, his violet eyes on the screen but not really seeing anything, when he heard a series of loud raps on his front door. Blinking, he immediately stood up and hurried over to the door, nearly tripping over the shoes in the _genkan_ as he swung it open.

There, in front of him, was a panting Nagisa, his face a little sweaty under his golden blonde locks, which were now hiding his eyes from sight. Startled to see the blonde in this state, Rei's mouth fell open slightly in surprise.

"Nagisa…!" He frowned a little with worry as he stepped out a little towards his boyfriend. "Are you all righ…" When his violet eyes landed on the blonde's hands, he stopped short in the middle of his sentence, his breath catching a little in his throat.

Clenched in Nagisa's hands—his clumsily dirt-stained hands—were several daisies. Their small, dainty petals spilled over each other, and although they were not anything like a fancy bouquet of red roses wrapped in lace and ribbon, Rei felt as if they were the most beautiful flowers he had ever seen in his life. The brunette's throat became dry with nervousness and excitement as he cracked open his lips.

"Is…?" His violet eyes quivered as they traveled back to the blonde's face. "Nagisa…is this…"

"You're my one and only miracle, Rei-chan." At the sound of Nagisa's shaky but earnest voice, the brunette stopped short in his words, his violet eyes widening. "I don't have a ring—and I don't need one. As long as you're mine." Slowly, he looked up at Rei, holding out the daisies to him with trembling hands—his face flushed pink, his small lips quivering slightly, large burgundy eyes glistening with tears, his watery gaze full of love and adoration for the man standing before him. "I promise I'll make you happy…! So…"

"Would you stay with me forever?"

It was then that the drops finally started streaming down Rei's cheeks. His violet eyes glistened with tears, with hope and happiness and utter love for the man before him.

"Yes...! Of course…!" The voice came out from the brunette's lips in a voice choked with emotion. "Of course I'll stay…of course…! Of course…! _Yes…!_" At the sight of Rei crying and smiling and repeating the sweet words over and over, the tears also started to spill from Nagisa's eyes.

"REI-CHAN!" Overwhelmed by the blast of happiness that hit his whole being, the blonde man tackled Rei onto the floor in the hall with an overjoyed hug. "Rei-chan…Rei-chan…! Rei…!" Bawling, Nagisa repeated his lover's name over and over, each time feeling like he was holding something precious in his mouth. After he got over the initial surprise, the same kind of joy overflowed in Rei, and the younger man wrapped his own arms tightly around the older, burying his tear-stained face in that soft blonde hair that still smelled of strawberry shampoo, murmuring Nagisa's name back over and over.

Next to the _genkan_ lay the daisies and the pink piece of candy. Though they had been forgotten for the moment, objects seemed to shine on their own with a simple but warm glow. And maybe, Nagisa decided, as he later watched Rei gently pick up the daisies and put them in a glass, and as he saw Rei marveling at the piece of strawberry candy with awed, nostalgic violet eyes, it was the small things like these that proved it was fate.

Maybe, in the end, fate was what they chose to make it.

* * *

**End Notes**

I'm thinking you guys can probably guess what the next chapter'll be about? ;)

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the next (and last) drabble is already planned out in detail. The bad news is that it will probably take around a week for me to write it with school in session, so I won't be able to update the day right after as I usually did ;v; I don't want to rush with writing it since it's the last chapter, so I hope you guys can wait just a little longer.

As always, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! :) Thank you for reading! *^^*


	12. You, Me, and Our World Between

Time Setting: Ryuugazaki Rei and Nagisa, ages 27 (Fall)

* * *

The autumn of that year came both quickly and slowly, as if it knew it was being fervently waited upon, but also as if it was gently teasing those waiting for it. All throughout Iwatobi, the leaves of its many trees gradually turned a vibrant variety of oranges and reds, bringing a crispy and warm glow to the port town.

And as twenty-seven-year-old Ryuugazaki Rei looked out the window of the inn that had been borrowed for what was bound to be one of the most important days in his life, he saw the star-shaped leaves of the elegant maple trees in the grove and could not help but marvel at how beautiful the season seemed. The way that the golds and rubies and burgundies seemed to mingle and dance together in the autumn breeze charmed the blue-haired man, and his violet eyes took on a shine when he also saw the occasional flashes of white that fluttered among the leaves—butterflies.

He had been sitting next to the glass, cheek propped in one hand and admiring the scenery, when he heard a knock from outside the waiting room.

"Come in!" After the brunette gave the call, the door opened and a chestnut-haired man with hazel eyes and smart under-rim glasses entered. Once he saw Rei in the room, a boyish grin spread across his round face.

"Looking good, Ryuugazaki!" Komura's eyes twinkled good-naturedly as he approached Rei. "You feeling nervous for today?" At this question, the brunette gave him a slightly jittery smile.

"It's my wedding day, Komura. Even I can't pretend I'm not nervous!" Although he had forgotten the nervousness for a while as he looked out the window, the feeling came back after the brunette's former classmate and friend mentioned it. Seeing Rei self-consciously readjusting his glasses, the brown-haired man laughed and sat down on one of the spare chairs in front of him

"Yeah—I remember you always got real jittery before big events like this, even though you always tried to cover it up by trying to sound confident." His teasing voice caused Rei to cough in indignation and his cheeks to color slightly in embarrassment.

"For your information, Komura-kun, I was _not_ as 'jittery' as you are implying! As you may recall, I overcame the nervousness each and every time!" he huffed. Noticing that in his embarrassment he had slipped back into using honorifics with his name—Rei had come to drop the _–kun_ over the years, although he had never stopped using polite speech to address Komura—the brown-haired man laughed silently in his head.

"Really? You sounded pretty jumpy when Hazuki's older sisters showed up here just now. Even though you've known them for all these years!" At the mention of the three Hazuki daughters, Rei's cheeks turned a darker red, the flush traveling all the way to his ears as he sputtered out an answer.

"Th-that was becau—th-they were asking i-inappropriate ques—i-it's none of your concern, Komura!" Indeed, even after eleven years, the Hazuki sisters still took to teasing Rei to flustered shambles and still enjoyed doing so just as much. It was during those eleven years that the brunette came to understand what their little brother might have gone through as a child, with his older sisters constantly teasing him to tears and dressing him up like a girl back then. But at the same time, Rei had also learned over those years just how much the sisters cared about their baby brother. And although the three women had poked fun at Rei with rather embarrassing jokes and questions about matters that should probably stay private, they had also given him their blessings before they left the waiting room, saying that they were counting on him to make their 'favorite little brat' happy (even though it did come with a cheerful 'Or else' from Naomi).

"It's only because you give them plenty of material to tease you about," Komura replied jokingly. "Even back in high school, you were so obvious about your feelings for Hazuki—to think that you only got more obvious over the years." At this statement, Rei's mouth dropped open in flustered surprise.

"_Obvi_—I was _not!"_ He knew he sounded like a grade-schooler, but he couldn't help the childish protest that fell from his lips. Komura let out another laugh before he settled down, his hazel eyes taking on a nostalgic look.

"It's been a real long time since then, huh? Meeting you in high school—and meeting Hazuki in junior high." Crossing his legs on the chair, the bespectacled man propped his chin in one hand thoughtfully. "Back when I first saw Hazuki, I never thought that I'd become close enough to him to attend his wedding." Knowing what his friend was implying about his fiancé's past, Rei's violet eyes took on the slightly somber look that they always did when the subject came up. Even though he knew that Nagisa had resolved his feelings about that time recently, sometimes Rei still found himself wishing he could have been there for the blonde during those days.

"I'm glad that you did." His voice rang quiet but sincere as he looked at his old friend. "Because I wasn't around for him back then." The hazel-eyed man regarded the groom with thoughtful eyes.

"But you were, Ryuugazaki." He smiled at Rei. "In one way or another—otherwise, I don't think that Hazuki would ever have approached me. And when you started attending Iwatobi High with him, he changed even more." The man's eyes twinkled behind his silver glasses as he said the next words teasingly. "You were just too dense back then to notice."

_"That's_—that's just—" Rei flushed. "I was young back then, all right? We both were!" Hearing the protest, Komura rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"You both still seem young to me now—after all these years, you two are still such a pair of lovesick teenagers." Grinning, he remembered a particular day in the spring when Nagisa had been acting off at work. "He was completely out of it the day after you proposed, you know—there were rumors going around that he even wrote the word 'marriage' on the blackboard during one of his lesso—" His words were cut off when another knock sounded at the door.

"Rei, it's us!" Hearing the familiar voice, Komura stood up from his chair.

"That must be Tachibana-senpai." Turning to Rei, he gave his friend his trademark boyish grin. "I'll be watching from the pew later, Ryuugazaki!"

"Hol—wait a minute, Komura! Just what did Nagisa do at the middle school?!" Laughing, the brown-haired man waved off Rei's flustered worries and walked towards the door.

"I'll tell you when you two come back from your honeymoon. Good luck later!" Winking, Komura opened the door and stepped out, exchanging short greetings with the tall green-eyed man that stood in the doorway before disappearing down the hall. As Makoto entered the room, Rei could also make out a raven-haired man following behind him. Momentarily pushing his previous conversation aside, the blue-haired man smiled at his two former senpais and teammates (and for that day, two of his best men), who had also become two of his closest friends over the years.

"Haruka-senpai, Makoto-senpai—you both look great." Upon hearing the compliment, Haru turned his head slightly to the side and Makoto let out a laugh.

"It's not often that we wear suits, so you must not be used to us looking like this." Because Makoto worked as a kindergarten teacher and Haruka worked as an illustrator for children's books, neither of them had very many occasions in their lives that called for formal wear. "You're looking pretty handsome yourself, Rei! I'm sure Nagisa'll swoon sometime during the ceremony," Makoto continued, smiling at Rei. Hearing these words made the blue-haired man blush.

"That's—this isn't that much, Makoto-senpai—" At the moment, Rei was dressed in a smart, form-fitting black tuxedo with a white satin tie and a lavender collared shirt that brought out the color of his violet eyes. Next to his lapel, a single white daisy was tucked into the chest pocket, nestled in a yellow silk handkerchief. Knowing the blue-haired man's modesty that tended to surface when he was feeling bashful, Makoto smiled encouragingly at the brunette.

"You're the groom, Rei. You can afford to be more confident today like you usually are—it'll make you a little less nervous!" His green eyes twinkled. Next to him, Haru opened his mouth.

"Rei. Relinquish yourself to the wate—to your feelings. Today you'll be able to fly."

"…Haruka-senpai, were you just about to say 'water'…?" Hearing the raven-haired man's usual abstract advice made Rei laugh a little, despite his nervousness. His friend's love for water had not changed a bit during the years—Rei knew the older man even brought his illustration work to his bathtub, because he had once seen the raven-haired man sitting there with his usual swimsuit on, working his tools of the trade over a large washboard propped on the edges of the tub. "But thank you, Haruka-senpai, and also, Makoto-senpai. It means a lot to me that you both are here today—" Rei blinked when he realized that his third best man wasn't there.

"By the way, where is Rin-san?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, Rin went over to Nagisa's waiting room just a few minutes ago," Makoto explained. "He said he'll drop by here a little while after."

"We already saw him a while ago, so we're here now," Haru added. "We were waiting for you to finish talking to Nagisa's sisters." Rei nodded in understanding.

"Was…did he seem fine?" His violet eyes glowed a little with nervousness as he asked this question. Although he was able to hide it better than Rei did, the brunette knew that the blonde could get surprisingly nervous or worried at times. And if the things he had heard about marriage blues held any substance, then…gulping, the violet-eyed man mentally shook his head, willing himself to clear his head of any disproportionate concerns. He was getting married to the man in just a few hours now, and he knew it was no time to doubt the person he had chosen to spend the rest of his life with. As if reading Rei's mind, Haru gave the blue-haired man a knowing stare as he opened his mouth.

"He did seem nervous. But he looks happy." As Rei's eyes widened, the older boy's blue eyes took on a sincere glow. "Around you, he always does." Except for when the two of them fought with each other, but the raven-haired man refrained from mentioning that point now—over the years, he had developed a little more delicacy as to what he chose to say or not say in certain situations. Hearing these words made Rei's cheeks glow with a rosy hue as he looked at the older man with slightly wide violet eyes. .

"I…I do hope I can make him happy, being by his side." The words fell in a soft murmur from Rei's lips. Makoto and Haru exchanged a glance, and as if they were telepathically connected, both of them remembered the same series of related events from their shared past. It was Haru who spoke up first.

"He had nightmares, you know. After you nearly drowned in the ocean at the training camp. He woke up crying every night in the tent until we left for home." Noticing Rei's violet eyes widening, then beginning to cloud with guilt, Haru went on speaking. "The point isn't that you should be chewing yourself out for it after eleven years. The point is that he would never have been the same without you—and he knows it. He probably knew it even before that training camp, considering what you two have been through before me or Makoto or Rin even met you. And you should know that by now." The simple but direct nature of the raven-haired man's words struck a chord in Rei, whose throat suddenly felt a little choked as his lashes fluttered slightly. Next to Haru, Makoto smiled gently at his blue-haired friend as he too opened his mouth.

"You're good for him, Rei. And he probably thinks you're the best there is for him. Otherwise, neither of you would have gotten this far, I'm sure." His green eyes took on a nostalgic look as he thought about a different night in the same summer. "When the five of us went on that summer trip to the Shimashima Islands, he told us something—that he was in love with you but didn't want to tell you, because he thought his feelings would get in the way of your new start." At this new revelation, Rei's violet eyes grew wide—just how much had happened at those islands that he did not know about?

_"That_—that's not—" he stuttered out, suddenly overwhelmed with strong feelings. "That couldn't have been _further_ from the truth! It was all thanks to _him_ that I even—"

"We know." Makoto's voice interrupted gently. "We knew. But at the time, he didn't. Just like you didn't know about his feelings for you." He offered the blue-haired man an understanding smile. "You do know the phrase _'Love makes you blind'_? Back then, it was like that with the two of you, all the time." His green eyes crinkled slightly as they regarded Rei with a motherly-brotherly glow. "That was how much he treasured you, Rei. And that still hasn't changed."

"Yeah—forget about confessing. From the way he was looking at you after the relay at regionals, I thought he would just ask you to marry him on the spot." Though Haru's tone held dry humor, it also held a hint of brotherly affection that told Rei he cared about his younger blonde friend. From beside him, Makoto laughed slightly.

"You're right about that—especially from that time on, he started looking at Rei like the way you look at water, Haru," he teased. At this comment, Rei flushed red and Haru frowned slightly.

"Oi—my eyes never look that mushy!" "Mu-_'mushy'_?!" "Ahahaha!" Once Makoto burst into laughter, Rei's own embarrassment started to fade, and he also started to laugh. The slight pout stayed on Haru's face, but his blue eyes softened as he watched his two best friends. Once the two of them calmed down, Makoto's eyes crinkled with a smile as he regarded Rei.

"Neither of you are more or less deserving of each other—things like that aren't important. I know that if it's you two, it'll be all right." His voice was sincere in addressing Rei. "You and Nagisa both—you're two of the best friends that I have ever had. I hope you two are happy together."

"…Makoto-senpai…" Noticing that Rei was starting to tear up, Haru nudged the tall man in the side.

"Oi, Makoto—save the tear-inducing congratulations for later." Just as he was saying this, another knock sounded on the waiting room door. Giving a start, Makoto blinked back the tears that had started to form in his own green eyes.

"Look at that—you have another visitor, Rei." Dabbing slightly at his eyes, the tall man gave Rei an encouraging grin. "We'll see you out on the altar later!"

"Rei. Remember—even if you faint later, Nagisa will probably pick you up."

_"Haru—!" "Haruka-senpai!"_ Ignoring the protests from both his friends, the raven-haired man shot Rei the slightest of grins as he pushed Makoto towards the door. When they opened it, they saw a blonde woman in her early sixties standing in the doorway.

"Oba-san!" Recognizing Nagisa's mother, Makoto smiled warmly at the woman. "It's been a long time—how have you been?"

"Why, if it isn't Makoto-kun—and Haruka-kun, too!" Mrs. Hazuki smiled back at the two men. "It's been quite fun living overseas, but it hasn't been the same with you children around!" Her burgundy eyes twinkled as she looked at her son's best men, before they traveled over to her son's husband-to-be. "Although it must have been a relief having me out of the way for the two of you, Rei dear!" Even though her tone was joking, Rei flushed as he drew himself up to protest.

"That's—that's not true at all, ma'am! Nagisa-ku—Nagisa missed you dearly—" As the blue-haired man fell into flustered shambles, Haru and Makoto took the time to clear the area for the groom and his soon-to-be mother-in-law. The door clicked shut as Hazuki Nanami smiled warmly at the blue-haired man.

"Always such the gentleman, aren't you, Rei dear?" Upon hearing her comment, Rei stopped his fervent protests, his cheeks still flushed pink. "All these years that I have known you, I see that still hasn't changed."

"That's—" Rei's violet eyes blinked in embarrassment as he looked down at the floor. "I hardly deserve your praise, ma'am…" Hearing the earnest modesty in his voice, Mrs. Hazuki stepped forward and patted him gently on the shoulder.

"You deserve all the praise you can get, dear. You're honest and polite and capable—if it's you, I know you'll look after that hopeless son of mine," she added light-heartedly, the fondness in her voice as she mentioned Nagisa giving away the contrary nature of her last four words. Upon hearing her say this, Rei blinked as he felt tears pricking at the back of his eyes again. Seeing Mrs. Hazuki before him with her graying blonde hair and her face, all of which had aged over the years except her burgundy eyes that had maintained their youthful twinkle, he was reminded of just how much Nagisa took after his mother. All of a sudden, he felt so grateful towards the blonde woman in front of him—for giving birth to Nagisa, for raising him into the beautiful person he had become—for giving Rei permission to have her one and only son.

"Are…are you sure you're all right with it, ma'am…?" The brunette's voice shook as he struggled to blink back his tears. "Letting someone like me stay next to your son…in…instead of someone who might be better for him…" Hearing the quaver in his words made Hazuki Nanami's eyes soften.

"My son would wholeheartedly disagree with every word you just said, dear. You know it. He'll be happy in your hands—and that's all the proof I need to know that you are every bit worthy of him." She smiled at Rei, a motherly glow in her now slightly moist eyes. "You're such a sweet child, Rei. You're as good as a son to me now. And I wish for your happiness just as much as Nagisa's—I hope you understand that." Dabbing a little at her eyes, she smiled in a bright way that strikingly reminded Rei of a certain blonde's brilliant smiles.

"As long as you are together, it'll be a wonderful road for the two of you, I'm sure!"

After hearing those words, it was all Rei could do to not burst into a sob right there in the room. Letting a few tears flow from his violet eyes, he gulped down his heaving breaths as he managed to choke out the only sincere response he could think of.

"…Thank you…!" Grabbing Mrs. Hazuki's hands and squeezing them in his own, the brunette man continued to heave out his answer.

"Thank you so much…for giving birth to him…for raising him into the person he is…for allowing me to stay with him…thank you…!" Mrs. Hazuki's eyes widened in surprise—then, they crinkled up in a teary smile as she replied.

"Thank you too, Rei. Thank you for finding him…for saying that you'll make my child happy…!"

As tears were shed and thanks were exchanged in the waiting room inside the inn, a white butterfly that had been perched on the windowsill fluttered its wings as it took off. It flew past the room that held the blue-haired man, passing some more windows until it landed on the shutters of the waiting room window on the opposite side of the inn.

The chatter of women's voices filtered through the glass as the butterfly's wings came to a standstill. In the room beyond the glass, there was a blonde man who was seated in front of a dresser with a mirror, his eyes closed and his brow knitting slightly from the ticklish sensations on his face as the two women next to him dusted his cheeks with some rosy powder. Sensing him squirm, the redhead of the two frowned slightly as she swatted the man on the shoulder.

"Nagisa-kun! Stay still for just five seconds, would you? We're almost done!" Opening his large burgundy eyes, the blonde man turned to his friend, pouting at her words.

"But Gou-chan, you said that like fifteen minutes ago!" twenty-seven-year-old Nagisa whined. "And are you sure you're not making me look girly or something?" To be honest, when the red-haired woman had first suggested that he put on a little makeup for the wedding, he had been slightly uncomfortable with the idea—it brought back too many nightmarish memories of his childhood days, when his sisters had used to 'doll him up' with their cosmetics and parade him around in girls' clothes.

"Geez, Nagisa-kun, I _told_ you—you look _perfectly and totally male,_ all right? Even I wouldn't mess with you on your wedding day!" As Gou huffed out these words, the other person next to Nagisa, a woman with sandy hair pinned back in a loose bun and light blue eyes, began rummaging excitedly in her bag for her camera.

"Just wait, Hazuki-kun—I'll be taking a _quick_ little snapshot!" Knowing from the woman's personality and the cheerfully calculating tone of her voice what she might do with the 'quick little snapshot', Nagisa's hand shot out and stopped his friend's arm in a tight grip.

"Don't, you, _dare_, Hana-chan!" His burgundy eyes were glaring daggers at his former high school classmate. "There's no way you're selling pictures of me in _makeup_ to Rei, not when I don't even know how I look yet!" Hearing the implications of his remark, Gou frowned a little before rolling her red eyes at the blonde.

"Well, why don't you take a look at yourself already, then? We're really finished this time!" Blinking, Nagisa remembered the mirror in front of him and turned back towards it. Once he saw his reflection in the glass, his burgundy eyes widened in awed surprise.

Staring back at him was an undeniably attractive blonde man, with high cheekbones and an oval-shaped, youthful-looking face. The soft rosy-bronze powder that dusted his cheeks brought out the golden tone of his slightly tan skin and nicely complimented his golden blonde locks, the bangs on one side partly gelled back while the rest of them fell in arches over his round forehead in a dashing way. The rosy glow in the man's cheeks also gave accent to his round burgundy eyes, which were lined with a bit of eyeliner that was just thick enough to make them pop out. The way that Gou had tweaked the line a little at the end and smudged it gave them a look that was slightly more mature than Nagisa's usual—if he lidded his eyes, Gou knew, he would look irresistibly seductive to a certain blue-haired man. Aside from these changes, they had not done much—the blonde's nose and brows had a nice arch, his lips were a natural rosy tone, and they had kept the eye shadow at a bare minimum so the look would remain more natural than heavy. Seeing those rosy lips fall apart in surprise, Gou smiled triumphantly as she placed her hands on her hips, and Hana enthusiastically turned on her digital camera, which she had whipped out in the short time that Nagisa was marveling at his reflection. Even when he heard the contraption click with a flash, the blonde couldn't bring himself to protest.

"So? Wanna start thanking me now?" Upon hearing Gou's teasing voice, the blonde man turned around and threw his arms around her.

"Gou-chan—Gou-sama! You're amazing!" he squealed in delight.

"…I suppose I should just give up on you calling me 'Kou'—considering it's been eleven years." Sighing, Gou grinned as she patted Nagisa on the shoulder. "Since it was me who dolled you up, you're guaranteed to knock some socks off—and hopefully some tuxedo tops, too!" Her red eyes started sparkling as she began imagining all the deltoids and triceps she would see if that actually happened.

"Ever the pervert, aren't you, Gou?" Next to her, Hana laughed as she teased her best friend. "Though it would be a pretty big scoop if, say, the two of them _and_ their best men stripped down to swimsuits at the wedding! Now _that_ would be the talk of town for _quite_ a while!" Seeing the woman's blue eyes also sparkle, Nagisa rolled his eyes at the both of them, trying to look as sarcastic as possible.

"You guys're _both_ perverts, from what it sounds like to me!" But he followed up his words with a good-natured smirk. At this challenge, Hana's light-blue eyes narrowed teasingly at the blonde.

"Oh, really? It's funny that you were jealous of this pervert here once, then!" Upon hearing this accusation—and remembering what it was she was talking about—Nagisa's heart thumped as his cheeks started to turn bright red.

"Tha—that's ridiculous! Why would I be jealous of you out of all peo—"

"Oh, there's no use trying to hide these things from me, Hazuki-kun—you should know that by now!" Hana's eyes twinkled as she teased the blonde. "Komura-kun told me all about it—the fact that I wasn't there in the classroom to see it for myself will forever be one of my greatest life regrets!" Though, seeing the sandy-haired woman clutch her hands to her heart with dramatic remorse, it didn't seem like she was feeling anything like regret at the moment. The flush traveled to Nagisa's ears as he stood up indignantly from his chair.

_"That's_—okay, so it was a little misunderstanding! What's wrong with that—I was only sixteen back then! Besides, it was Rei-chan's fault for acting so misleadingly!" As both Hana and Gou tried not to laugh, the blonde continued his words huffily. "Anyways, Rei-chan was totally in love with me even then, so you stood no chance anyways!" Hearing this last remark made Hana burst into laughter.

"It's hilarious how little you've changed, Hazuki-kun—ahaha!" She genuinely thought it was cute how twenty-seven-year-old Nagisa could still get flustered or jealous over things that had happened in the past. The sandy-haired woman knew that Rei was just as bad—even before Komura had mentioned the lunchtime incident to her, she had noticed his sixteen-year-old self give her somber looks when she was interacting with Nagisa, and she could imagine him showing the same kind of reaction as his fiancé if she teased him about that past now. "Don't worry, Ryuugazaki-kun's all yours—he already was from the start, anyways!" Hearing the teasing in her voice, Nagisa puffed up his slightly flushed cheeks as he responded.

"Like I didn't know that before!" he muttered in a small voice that sounded happy. As Hana and Gou exchanged amused looks, they heard the door of the waiting room being thrown open and a familiar voice coming from outside in a casual drawl.

"All right—where's the little terror that's getting married today?" The three of them turned to see twenty-eight-year-old Rin standing in the doorway, one arm slung against the frame, the hand of the other arm tucked casually into his suit pocket. Upon seeing his red-haired best man, Nagisa's face lit up.

"Rin-chan!" As the blonde greeted him happily from next to her, Gou's face took on a slight frown.

"Onii-chan! You're at a wedding today—I told you not to loosen your tie! And your suit's unbuttoned, too!" As the red-haired woman stepped forward and started adjusting her brother's clothes, the casual look slid off Rin's face and was replaced by one of faint embarrassment.

"Oi, Gou! What's the deal—it's not like the ceremony's started yet!" he protested—but his protests fell on deaf ears as Gou gave him a look that was 99% percent successful with intimidating most men around her, even her own sibling who was an Olympic swimmer and had dealt with some pretty intimidating obstacles in his life.

"You're the _best man,_ onii-chan—you could stand to carry yourself like one!" Finishing her work, she brushed off the shoulders of his suit as a finishing touch. "There—now you look presentable!" After glancing at the clock, she turned to Hana. "Hana-chan, didn't you say that Yamazaki-kun was coming around this time?" At the mention of her former classmate, the sandy-haired woman blinked her eyes.

"You're right—I almost forgot! Let's go to the parking lot and pick him up!" As Yamazaki had always been bad with finding his way around places and the parking lot was a bit far from the grove area, they had decided to go and fetch the orange-haired man.

"We'll be going then, onii-chan, Nagisa-kun!" Turning to the blonde, Gou winked at her friend. "Go break a leg out there later, Nagisa-kun!" The remark was accompanied by a cheery wave from Hana, and soon the two of them left, closing the waiting room door behind them. Nagisa giggled as he looked at Rin, who was rubbing the back of his head in a disgruntled gesture but with fond-looking red eyes.

"Wow, Rin-Rin, you've _still_ got such a sister complex!" he teased. At that, the redhead's eyes glinted dangerously as he shot the groom a deadly look.

"You're lucky you're getting married today, brat, because that makes it _two things_ that I'm restraining myself from killing you over." Letting out a _tch_, Rin's face relaxed as he studied Nagisa. "Was Gou the one who made you up?" In response to his question, the blonde nodded cheerfully.

"Yup! Thank god it wasn't my sisters who did—" Shuddering slightly, Nagisa looked at his best friend as he linked his hands behind his back a little shyly. "Do…do you think Rei-chan will like it?" Any other day, Rin might have made a joke out of the question and told him he looked like Hikita Tenko or something—but seeing his younger friend looking nervous and considering that the day was what it was, the redhead's expression softened.

"Yup—he'll definitely get that gross look on his face when he sees you." Rin smirked. "Maybe he'll even piss his speedo ass, he'll be so damn nervous!" He could just imagine it—the blue-haired butterfly swimmer stuttering over his vows or stumbling on his way up the altar, his face turning tomato red and his violet eyes getting that characteristic panicked look of his—the redhead thought it'd be hilarious to see just how nervous the brunette could get at his own wedding.

"Geez, Rin-chan! Don't tease Rei too much!" But Nagisa's words were followed by a laugh as his cheeks took on a rosy glow. Humming slightly, he tilted his head back a little as he leaned back on his feet.

"Ah~ I wonder if I'll make him happy?" He smiled a little, the smile quietly pondering. "I sure hope I will…!" Hearing the slight uncertainty in the blonde's voice, Rin rolled his eyes a little as he opened his mouth.

"You'd break Speedo's heart if you're not with him." His words were blunt but his tone was soft. "You should've seen him in Tokyo—I won't say something overrated like 'he was an empty shell without you'. But even a complete idiot could see a huge-ass piece of him was missing—he's only returned to the ridiculous theory-obsessed butterfly-suit-wearing little smart-ass he is because he came home to you." The redhead remembered the days back in his and Rei's college years in the city—during the rare times when both of them had been free to meet up, his friend had always seemed a little subdued, his violet eyes had always seemed far away, and the few times that he had seemed to perk up were at the mention of a certain blonde that they both knew. As he saw Nagisa's burgundy eyes widen, Rin rolled his own eyes once more. "And I don't have the slightest clue why you're looking so damn surprised about that—if I have to hear one more time about how much he misses your ass, I swear I'll handcuff both of you to a goddamn steel post and burn the key. There were so many times when I'd have thrown his ass on the next train to Iwatobi if I could've—that was how bad his wifey _'I miss my husband back at home'_ vibe was back then." Rin snorted—just the thought of that pining look on Rei's face got on his nerves.

"Anyways, feel free to stick to Speedo like glue for the rest of your life—as long as you keep your private shit _private."_ Rin shuddered at the prospect of getting the front-seat view to any of that 'private shit'—and he definitely didn't want Gou anywhere _near_ said shit. "So long as I'm concerned, you two _actually_ drive me less insane when you're together—happiness and all that crap be damned." Seeing the _tsundere_ front he was putting up with his blunt words, Nagisa smiled at the redhead, his burgundy eyes glowing with gratitude.

"Thanks, Rin-chan." Though his voice was a little quiet for the blonde, the words were said in all sincerity. "It means a lot that you care." A little taken aback by the younger boy's departure from his usual boisterous and joking self, Rin blinked slightly before letting out a _tch_ and turning his head to the side in embarrassment.

"Whatever. Just go out there and get hitched already—all this mushiness is giving me the creeps." And when Nagisa laughed at that, the wrinkle in the redhead's forehead was only a little deep.

When a knock came from outside the room, both men turned their eyes towards the door.

"Come in!" Nagisa called out cheerfully. His eyes widened a bit in surprise when the door opened and he saw the person standing in the doorway. When Rin saw who it was, he coughed slightly and gave the groom a knowing look.

"See you at the altar then, kiddo." The redhead bowed his head slightly towards the unexpected visitor before he made his way out of the waiting room. Even as the door closed shut, Nagisa's startled burgundy eyes remained on the man standing before him.

To be honest, he had not expected Rei's father to turn up at his waiting room alone—maybe at Rei's, but not at Nagisa's. It was not because the blonde thought Mr. Ryuugazaki didn't like him—but even eleven years after Nagisa and Rei had first come out to Rei's parents, Nagisa still found it a little awkward to interact with Rei's father one-on-one, without either Mrs. Ryuugazaki or Rei there to mediate. Maybe it was because out of all four of their parents, Mr. Ryuugazaki had been the last adult to give his approval on their relationship ten years ago—not that the blonde had not been grateful all the same. Or maybe it was because of the man's personality—although Nagisa would not exactly call him unfriendly, Rei's father had a certain conservative, reserved air about him. When that factor was combined with the fact that, analogically speaking, it was his boyfriend's father to Nagisa as what a girlfriend's father would mean to most guys—in other words, a person to be wary of at all times—it was more than enough to make the blonde feel cautious around the man. But he was the father of the person Nagisa loved and would marry in a few hours, and if the blonde hadn't wished to get along with Mr. Ryuugazaki before, then he definitely did now. Putting aside his slight discomfort, Nagisa smiled at the dark-haired man.

"Good evening, Mr. Ryuugazaki!" he said cheerfully, but made sure his tone wasn't too loud or casual. "I hope you didn't have a hard time getting here—I just spoke to oba-sa—Mrs. Ryuugazaki about an hour ago, and she said you would arrive here separately because of some last-minute business that came up. I'm glad you made it here before the wedding started!" The blonde had never felt comfortable enough around Rei's father to call him 'oji-san', although he had called Mrs. Ryuugazaki 'oba-san' even before he had first started dating Rei. And Nagisa loved Rei's mother, who had grown to dote on him like she would over her own son. Just some minutes ago when she had visited his waiting room, Ryuugazaki Reina had given him a warm hug and given him her tearful thanks and blessings—and the blonde had almost burst into sobs right then and there. It was a good thing that he had not had any makeup on then, or else he would have ended up looking like a mess. As Mr. Ryuugazaki cleared his throat, Nagisa's attention returned to the father of his fiancé.

"Hardly. I took a taxi, so it was quite simple getting here." The man's dark eyes met Nagisa's burgundy ones and held their gaze for a few seconds before moving on to another point in the waiting room. "Are you, ah, finished with preparations? If I'm intruding on them, I can leave—"

"No, not at all!" the blonde replied quickly. "I'm more than prepared, sir—I was just speaking with my friends before you arrived, so it's fine!"

"Oh…I see." After Mr. Ryuugazaki offered his brief response, an awkward silence settled between the two men. Just as Nagisa was about to open his mouth to break the silence, he heard Ryuugazaki Rihito's voice speak up first.

"I—I know you may not feel as comfortable around me as—well, as you do around Rei's mother." Hearing this statement made Nagisa's eyes widen, and the blonde was just about to fall into an internal panic session when Mr. Ryuugazaki continued. "And I understand why you would feel that way—so there's no need to look so worried…Nagisa-kun." The blonde blinked as he heard his given name fall from the middle-aged man's lips—for the longest time, Rei's father had always addressed him as 'Hazuki-kun', so this was the first he had done otherwise. Naturally, Mr. Ryuugazaki also seemed unused to the action, as he hurried on to his next words.

"What I am trying to say is that—that I think you know I have been distancing myself a little from getting to know you properly." Not believing what he was hearing after all these years, Nagisa could only gawk and listen as Rihito continued. "But it was never because I dislike your character or any such thing—I hope you understand that." Something in the man's expression, awkward but apologetic, reminded Nagisa of his younger son, and when the blonde realized this something in his heart softened.

"Of course not, sir." His voice was soft but understanding. "I don't blame you for—well—for hesitating about our relationship." The last three words came out a little haltingly as Nagisa's tone took on a nervous quality. "I mean, I know you probably never expected your son to—well, to date a man, much less marry one, but—" The blonde let out an awkward laugh at this point before continuing. "But I…really love him very much, and he told me he wanted to be with me forever…" His burgundy eyes softened with a look of love and adoration as he thought of the man he loved. "So I do hope that…that you're okay with me being the one, Mr. Ryuugazaki." Nagisa's voice took on an unsure but earnest quality. "I might not be able to give him the same things that…that a wife might be able to give him, but I—I really do want to make him happy, so—" As his voice cracked a little with emotion, the blonde cursed himself for the tears that threatened to prick his eyes once again. He wondered if it was a Ryuugazaki thing, the uncanny ability to induce emotional tears from him in one way or another—knowing how awkward it might get if he broke out sobbing at the moment, the blonde swallowed and pursed his lips to keep himself from crying.

"—I was afraid that he would never recover." When he heard Rihito's quiet admittance, Nagisa looked up at the dark-haired man. "When he first decided he would never really step outdoors again, I thought that it was just a phase—he was just a child, I thought, and even though he was shocked from what happened, I thought that he would get over the event sooner or later. That was the only reason why I agreed with Reina that he could be homeschooled instead…" Pausing, he took a moment with closed eyes before he went on.

"But six years passed from then…and it was only then that I realized I didn't understand my son at all. I couldn't understand him—that one night that I told him to start attending high school, he looked at me with hard eyes for the first time in his life, and even then, I only realized that it wasn't just a phase. It was only when I spent some time away from him that I really thought about what he might have gone through. It was only then when I realized for the first time that all those years I hadn't really done a single thing to help him." Rihito's hand tightened into a fist as he went on, his voice a little shaky now. "I was only forcing my own ideals on him instead—and when I finally understood that, I felt powerless. To think that I couldn't do anything to help my own son—that I was just pushing him away…I even thought that he might never be himself again, even if he did go back outside." He took a deep breath before opening his mouth again.

"When I learned it was you who brought him back outside, I was genuinely grateful to you—although I may not have expressed my gratitude as much as I could have. It was only after he met you that my son was able to move on—and at first, I didn't realize the extent to which you influenced him. But the more I thought about how he used to be afraid of getting close to others and shut himself away, and the more I saw how he changed after that summer years ago, I was astonished. I learned—even before the two of you came to me and Reina and told us about your relationship—that to my son, you were an irreplaceable person." As Nagisa's eyes widened, Rihito hesitated before saying his next words. "But even then, at first, I wondered about the two of you—whether your relationship was something that I should give my consent for." His dark eyes glistened with memory.

"I had an older cousin in the past, on my mother's side—and when he told the family about his sexual orientation one day, they cast him out." The breath caught in the blonde's throat as he understood the implication behind this surprising piece of information—if he had known about it, Rei had never mentioned the fact to him before. "He cut ties with them, left before I could even say good bye to him. After all those years that he took care of me—he was like an older brother to me, and I couldn't do anything more than watch him go." His fist tightened at his sides.

"At first, I thought that the family was right—that he was at fault because he was who he was. For the longest time, I was a product of the rigid environment of that family—and it was only after meeting my wife that I started thinking differently." Rihito turned his solemn gaze back towards his son's fiancé. "I won't say that I'm a hundred percent comfortable with the idea itself, even now. But when the two of you came to confess about your relationship, I thought about the both of you—and I thought that maybe, what you had was something like what I found with my wife. And after all the times that I was already not there for my son, after seeing him so happy—I didn't want to chase away the one person in his life who found him and gave him the hope he always needed. Even if you are male." Clearing his throat, Rihito continued.

"The reason I was late in giving you my consent was because I was tracking down my cousin—before I decided to do so, I wanted to talk to him about a few things—and also apologize to him for the past as well. I regret that the both of you had to wait for it—it must have left you on the edge, worrying about what my response would be." As he said this, the dark-haired man smiled apologetically at Nagisa.

"…Oji-san…" As the blonde's eyes started to become a little moist, Rihito's own dark eyes started to glaze with tears as well.

"I didn't mean to ramble. All I really wanted to say…was that I'm thankful for everything you did. For bringing my son outside again—for being by his side for so long. I know I'm late with giving you my thanks—but try to understand the feelings of this awkward old man." A single tear started streaming down the side of his face as he choked out his next words.

"Please—continue to take care of my son. Continue to make him happy—be happy next to him. You'll have my gratitude for life—" After these words, the dark-haired man could not bring himself to speak further, as more tears began flowing down his cheeks.

"…Don't…don't cry please…oji-san…" It was then that the tears began to flow down Nagisa's cheeks as well. "I…I promise…I'll never let Rei be alone again. I'll make him happy…I will…I promise…!" Forgetting for the moment that his makeup was probably getting stained, the blonde continued crying as he dabbed furiously at his eyes with the back of his hand. "So…please give him to me…!"

"…All right." Rihito managed to choke out an answer. "As long as you keep that promise…!" Upon hearing the answer, a smile, this time not nervous or forced but genuine, spread across Nagisa's tear-stained face as he said the next two words.

"I will…!"

Later, when Ryouji came to get his father from the waiting room, he didn't say anything about Rihito's or Nagisa's swollen eyes. A few minutes after Rei's brother escorted his father out, Gou and Hana came back in with Yamazaki, and although the former swim club manager was appalled by the ruined makeup on the blonde's face, she managed to fix it up again quickly in time for the wedding ceremony.

…

For Rei, the grove outside was somehow more beautiful than the scenery he had seen through the waiting room window. As he felt the autumn breeze dance through the air, heard it ruffling the brilliant red and orange and golden leaves of the trees with their rich dark-brown trunks and graceful branches, saw the occasional white butterfly flying through them now and then, the blue-haired man couldn't help but feel wonder at how breath-taking the world outside seemed this day.

But of course, that did not mean that the brunette was not feeling nervous at all. On the contrary, his legs were already feeling a little shaky as he stood arm in arm with his mother behind a makeshift curtain, waiting to receive the cue of the music and walk down the marked aisle in the grove towards the altar. As if sensing his nervousness, Reina smiled up encouragingly at her son.

"Are you not ready to be given away, Rei? Shall I hold onto my son a little longer?" Her playful tone made Rei smile, despite his nervousness.

"You know I'll always be your son, Mother. No matter what." He unlinked their arms for a moment to give his mother's hand an affectionate squeeze. "In fact, now you'll have three sons—that's what Nagisa said to me the other day." At the mention of the blonde, Reina's eyes crinkled up with affection, violet orbs twinkling behind dark blue lashes.

"Then Nanami and I are the two luckiest mothers in the world." Her warm smile showed that she meant it. As the music finally sounded, mother and son linked arms once more. "Are you ready now, dear?"

"Yes." Rei smiled back at his mother. "Let's go…!" They turned around and moved through the gap in the curtains, stepped into the aisle in the grove.

Unlike traditional weddings, the seating in the pew was mixed. As he walked down the aisle with his mother, Rei saw his colleagues from work seated with some of Nagisa's fellow teachers from Sanada Middle School, his friends from his college in Tokyo next to Nagisa's friends from the local college, and more friends and family distributed here and there throughout. They had been chatting and getting acquainted with each other before the ceremony began, and now all of them were silent as they watched Rei travel down the aisle. In the first few rows at the front, Rei saw Komura pat Yamazaki on the shoulder as the orange head was already bawling, Hana lending him her handkerchief as she was blinking her own moist light-blue eyes, with Gou next to her and blowing her nose on a handkerchief. In the row behind them sat a few of Rei's underclassmen from their swim club in high school, who gave the groom cheerful fist-pumps as he met their eyes. Even some old friends from Samezuka High were there—among them a grey-haired man with sky blue eyes, who smiled and waved at Rei from his seat, as well as a taller orange-haired man with tan skin and hazel eyes that were staring in a particular redhead's direction (Rei resisted the urge to roll his eyes good-naturedly, as the man's feelings for said redhead were still so obvious even though they were still unrequited). In the first two rows sat the Hazukis and the Ryuugazakis—the three Hazuki sisters either crying or near tears already, Ryouji seated next to one of them with a calm expression on his face, and Rei's own father seated in the front row. Rei wondered if he had imagined that his father's eyes seemed a little red and swollen—but at the moment, he was too nervous to cast a second glance after the smile that he had initially given his father. Turning back to the altar, Rei saw his three best men standing next to it. Makoto smiled at Rei encouragingly, Haru gave Rei a nod with his knowing blue eyes, and Rin shot him a grin full of shark-like teeth. After smiling back at his best men, albeit a bit shakily, Rei returned his focus on not tripping over the steps as he climbed them. With a small squeeze of the hand, Rei's mother gave her son a last smile before releasing his arm and stepping back towards the pew. To his credit, Rei only stumbled a little as he made his way up to the altar, and he was pretty sure his face was only a little red as he stood up straight before the officiant, then turned his body towards the aisle.

"Now, enter the second groom." Rei blinked as he heard the officiant speak—for some reason, the man's voice sounded familiar. But he had been wearing a hat low over his face, so Rei had not been able to discern his facial features. He had started to feel slightly puzzled when he heard the sound of the curtains swishing open once more. The brunette's eyes immediately focused back on the end of the aisle—and when he saw the blonde man walking down it with his mother, his violet eyes widened and the breath caught in his throat.

Dressed in a crisp yellow collared shirt with a neat black tuxedo and white satin tie that both matched Rei's, also with a white daisy tucked into the chest pocket with a purple handkerchief, Nagisa looked smart and extremely handsome. His golden-blonde locks that usually curved over his face were now partly waxed back, the half-do-up flattering the oval shape of his face. His cheeks were tinged with a rosy blush, his captivating burgundy eyes seemed to stand out more than usual as they glowed warmly under his blonde lashes, and the corners of his rosy lips were turned up in a slightly nervous but happy smile, bringing out the endearing dimple in his cheek that had remained there over the years. It took Rei a while to realize that he was gaping, and as he quickly shut his mouth, the brunette could feel the heat in his cheeks rising rapidly as he stared in awe at his husband-to-be. The blonde actually looked a little shy under Rei's gaze, after he initially took Rei in with his own eyes and reacted with the same sort of captivated surprise that the brunette had shown towards him. They both broke eye contact now and then, their eyes wandering back to the pew at the guests seated in the rows. But whenever they met each other's eyes, they smiled lovingly at each other each time.

It was when Nagisa was passing the first few rows that he noticed his sisters crying. And when he saw his eldest sister Natsuki shed a few tears as well, the blonde could not help but tease her about it—she had rarely shed any tears in front of him after all. Perhaps Nagisa should have foreseen that Rei might start crying as well, but as it turned out, his calculations had not traveled that far—nor had he foreseen that he himself would also burst into tears as well (and later, that Natsuki would catch the event on camera). Nagisa thought that he had seen Gou look a little appalled through her own tears, and once the redhead rushed over to the blonde with a pack of cleansing tissues and did her best to make him presentable again, she only smacked him lightly on the head and scolded the both of them for tearing up so early into the ceremony—which caused another round of laughter to ripple through the guests in the pew. Once his mother sent him up to the altar with a cheerful smile and a pinch to her son's side, the blonde's face was now almost makeup-free—not that there had been a lot on him to begin with. But to Rei, it didn't matter—the blonde still looked breath-taking to him, and the brunette's violet eyes shone with tenderness as they gazed at the man standing before him. He saw Nagisa flush a little as the blonde's own burgundy eyes shyly met Rei's, and after a while, both of their cheeks were tinged with a rosy glow.

"One, two, three!" All of a sudden, the two men had heard their mothers' voices shout in unison. Suddenly, both of them felt a pair of hands pushing their backs towards each other—knowing they would collide, Rei's arms instinctively reached out to catch Nagisa, and the two of them barely managed not to fall over as their torsos landed against each other in an awkward hug. As both of them were men, neither of them had expected that there would be a giving-away part in the ceremony, but apparently, they were wrong—however playful and informal it was. As the guests laughed, the two grooms stood frozen in their embrace for a little while before breaking apart—Rei's face red as he gaped at Reina in surprise and Nagisa shooting Nanami a look of disbelief, his ears turning pink. But after a while, they also started to laugh as well until the laughter subsided a while later.

Once they were both facing the altar, the officiant began voicing the call to gather.

"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here, in the presence of this company, family and friends—" As the officiant began to speak, Nagisa's burgundy eyes immediately widened in surprise. "—that Ryuugazaki Rei and Hazuki Nagisa may be united in matrimony—" Slowly, the officiant raised his face up from his book, and as the hat fell back on his head, it revealed a familiar crop of thinning auburn hair. "Marriage is the promise of hope between two people who love each other sincerely—" As the thin face and twinkling hazel eyes presented themselves, Rei's mouth fell open five stories and Nagisa's eyes grew to the size of goose eggs as he burst out,

"DAD!" With the exclamation, the guests in the pew started murmuring amongst themselves as they cast curious looks at the officiant standing at the altar—who was actually Mr. Hazuki in a hat and black robes. Not batting an eye but smiling at the very surprised couple, the auburn-haired man continued his statement of purpose without missing a beat.

"—who honor each other as individuals, and who wish to unite their lives and share the future together—" As Mr. Hazuki spoke, Rei and Nagisa exchanged surprised glances, which soon turned into smiles as they turned back to face the altar.

The remainder of the ceremony up to the vows and ring exchange went without a hitch. However, it was during the family blessings that Nagisa noticed how little of Rei's family were present at the ceremony. He knew that there were not many family members on Rei's mother's side, but he had heard that the family on Rei's father's side was quite extensive. A pang went through the blonde's heart as he remembered what Mr. Ryuugazaki had mentioned earlier—that his cousin on his mother's side had been shunned from the family. He also remembered how Rei mentioned that his grandfather on his father's side had had close to no relatives before marrying his grandmother.

A little shocked at the speculation that was probably true, Nagisa turned somber eyes towards Rei, as if to ask a question he thought he knew the answer to. But as if he had read his mind, the brunette smiled gently at the blonde as he reached over and squeezed his hand in his own. That single gesture was enough to communicate everything—that it was okay, that the only thing that mattered at the moment was the fact that he loved Nagisa, that he had chosen the blonde and would be happy with him regardless. For the _nth_ time that day, the older man felt the back of his eyes prick with tears—but he did not let them fall, choosing to squeeze Rei's hand back and smile softly at him instead. And later, it had definitely been comforting when Mr. Ryuugazaki gave them his earnest blessings—along with Reina, and Ryouji, who offered the comment that his support was _'worth the support of the whole damn world'_, making the couple and the guests laugh.

After the blessings came the exchange of vows. Finally turned towards each other, hand in hand, Rei and Nagisa gazed at each other with unconcealed fondness as Mr. Hazuki went through the vows.

"Ryuugazaki Rei, do you take Hazuki Nagisa to be your wedded husband,  
To live together in marriage.  
Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him  
For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health  
And forsaking all others, be faithful only to him  
So long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Rei's voice rang out solemnly as he kept his eyes on the man before him.

"Hazuki Nagisa, do you take Ryuugazaki Rei to be your wedded husband,  
To live together in marriage.  
Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him  
For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health  
And forsaking all others, be faithful only to him.  
So long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Nagisa's own voice was earnest as he gazed back at the brunette with loving eyes.

After their vows, they exchanged rings, simple gold bands with their initials carved on the inside. Nagisa felt Rei's hand tremble slightly as he placed the ring on the blonde's left hand fourth finger, and when he saw that the brunette's violet eyes were glowing with emotion, he gave the man a loving smile as he himself slid Rei's ring onto his finger, his heart warm and thumping pleasantly in his chest. Mr. Hazuki also smiled at the two grooms as he opened his mouth.

"I now pronounce you man and husband. You may ki—" Before the auburn-haired man was even done speaking, Nagisa felt an arm wrap around his waist and dip his body down. The blonde was only able to let out a squeak of surprise before Rei leaned down and kissed him—and the brunette _never_ pulled stunts like this when he was in front of others. Blushing and feeling his heart thumping against his ribcage in a happy rhythm, the blonde closed his eyes and kissed his now-husband back, too busy enthusiastically returning the affection to notice or care that some guests in the crowd were whooping amongst the applause and camera flashes were going off everywhere. When the two of them would not stop kissing and heard Rin shouting at them to continue it somewhere else later (away from his sister's eyes), they ignored the redhead and stayed in the kiss for ten more seconds until they finally pulled away from each other—both with flushed, smiling faces.

At last, they were joined with each other for life. And as the two husbands stared at each other in the grove that autumn day, they felt a warm thrill run through them—at the prospect of the coming days that they would share together, by each other's side, giving each other all the love and happiness they deserved.

…

It was now evening, and now the full moon peered out from behind a few wispy clouds in the dark sky, illuminated by the golden light of lanterns hanging around the vicinity. By then the guests had relocated to the outdoor parlor of the inn for the wedding reception. Nagisa and Rei had finished greeting all the guests, and as the band played its music they were slow dancing among the other guests, their arms around each other, Rei's cheek leaning into Nagisa's hair and Nagisa's cheek pressed against Rei's neck. Feeling content and warm in the brunette's arms, the blonde moved slowly and lazily as if he was in a trance—at the moment he felt that he never wanted this dance to end, if it meant he had to let go of Rei.

"Feeling tired?" Rei's voice asked as they slowly stepped across the parlor in their dance. At his question, Nagisa shook his head slightly, his hair rubbing against his husband's cheek.

"Nope—well, a little. But I'm feeling more happy than tired." The blonde smiled against Rei's shoulder. "I just wanna keep dancing with you." At this, Rei's heart melted a little once more, and he smiled into his husband's hair as he pressed a kiss to it with his lips.

"You taste like hair gel." Hearing the teasing in Rei's voice, Nagisa laughed.

"My sisters helped me set my hair—though I wouldn't let them touch any makeup around me," he added as an afterthought. Now it was Rei's turn to laugh.

"Who put the makeup on for you, then? Was it Gou-san?" he asked.

"Yup! Gou-chan was all like _'You better knock off some tuxedo tops with this look so I can see some muscles!'_ and Hana-chan even tried to take pictures of me with makeup on." At the mention of pictures, Rei's ears perked up slightly—and as if he had sensed this, Nagisa frowned a little as he drew himself back a little to look up at Rei.

"Don't think about buying those photos, Rei-chan—she always rips you off and I didn't get to check how they turned out beforehand!" Though he was flattered that the brunette would _still_ purchase photos of him from his ever-scheming classmate (he had learned previously that this hobby of Rei's had started only a month into the brunette's new start at Iwatobi High School), his worries still stood regardless. "If you want photos of me, all you have to do is ask, Rei-chan! Plus, I'd wear just about _anything_ and pose just about _any way_ you ask me to!" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at his husband with a grin on his face, which sent a blush through the blue-haired man's cheeks.

"Actually, my motives were more—_innocent_ than what you're implying, Nagisa." Coughing a little, he smiled down at his husband. "It's not that I don't like seeing posed photos of you—but I also like the ones where you're being more spontaneous and doing things without noticing the camera." He reached out with a hand and caressed the blonde's cheek affectionately. "And in the case of today, it was a rare occasion—seeing you with makeup on, that is. Although I couldn't see it close up, you looked beautiful." The impact of the compliment, paired with the brunette's smile, made Nagisa's own cheeks flush pink as well.

"Should I do it more often, then?" he asked shyly. "Put on makeup, that is?" He had also liked the look that Gou managed to pull off for him—and though he would probably not use it every day, he was more than prepared to get lessons from the redhead, if it meant that Rei would tell him he was beautiful. Smiling, Rei shook his head.

"Maybe occasionally, if you want to. My favorite look is still your natural one." His violet eyes traveled down the outlines of the blonde's face, as if they were taking in every feature in detail. "You look beautiful, with or without makeup—stained makeup or not," he added in a teasingly affectionate voice, remembering how Nagisa had burst out about not wanting to cry because he would ruin his makeup during the ceremony. Hearing these words made the blonde's cheeks grow hot as he came to a standstill in their dance and buried his face in the crook of Rei's neck.

"…Geez, Rei-chan. It's only been a few hours since the ceremony!" Nagisa mumbled. "It's too early to be making me fall for you all over again…!" At this confession, the good old butterflies in Rei's stomach emerged once more, making his heart flutter and his own cheeks glow. Leaning over next to the blonde's ear, the brunette whispered back a husky response.

"If that's what it takes to keep you by my side, then I'm more than prepared to do it over and over, Nagisa-kun." Now he could practically feel his husband blushing—and he definitely felt the blonde's heart thumping in his chest, which was pressed up against his own torso.

"Rei-chan—you even tacked on your old nickname for me!" Hearing Nagisa wail made Rei smile. "That's _so_ not fair~~!" The brunette laughed as he pulled his husband back into their dance.

"You never fight fair yourself, Nagisa-kun," he reminded the blonde good-naturedly. "If I had to live to see the day you fight fair, I'd say I'd have to live much longer than the average life span dictates." At this claim, the blonde's cheeks puffed up slightly.

"Hmph—you should, then! You should live to be over two hundred, and by then you'll definitely see it!"

"Two hundred years? Next to you?" Rei teased. "I don't know if I can stay sane all those years."

"What—you don't want to?" The blonde pouted. "You're the one who proposed to me first!"

"I thought it was 'forever', Nagisa." As his husband murmured these words, the blonde stopped dancing again and stared wide-eyed at Rei—his Rei, who always blushed and stuttered and melted into a pile of nervous mush when he happened to say cheesy lines like this. Well, the blue-haired man was blushing all right, but right now he seemed more composed than Nagisa himself, whose face felt like it had erupted into flames as his mouth fell open and closed like a gaping fish.

"Rei-chan—I don't even—did you drink a little too much champagne earlier? Is that why you're being so cheesy without being all nervous and stutter-y like you usually are?" To his credit, Rei only looked a little affronted by the question as he replied to Nagisa.

"Well, we're married now—we got married just a few hours ago, if I _do_ need to remind you," he said with mock pompousness, pushing his glasses up with one hand as he did. "And I would think I can start being more honest with my affections for my husband?" He smiled gently at the blonde, violet eyes softening around their edges. "There's no need to hesitate anymore—I've already admitted how much I feel for you in front of everyone today. We're not the awkward teenagers we used to be anymore." Flushing in response, Nagisa nestled his cheek against Rei's shoulder once more.

"You sure about the last part, Rei-chan?" Meeting Rei's eyes, the blonde smiled, burgundy eyes twinkling. "There are still times when I sure do feel like I'm fifteen again around you. Isn't it the same for you?" His smile widened when Rei's face flushed a little—he took delight in feeling the brunette's pulse speed up against his cheek. "The blushy, stutter-y, awkward teenager version of you is one of my favorite, you know?"

"O-oh—is that so, now?" Nagisa let out a mental chuckle as he heard his husband stuttering slightly—he knew that no matter how cool as a cucumber Rei acted, the endearingly nervous and awkward side of the man would always be there. "Is that why you made me strip down to a _speedo_ merely fifteen minutes after we said our vows?" At the unexpected question, the blonde started laughing out loud this time, his shoulders shaking as he giggled hard against Rei's shoulder.

"Don't blame me for it, Rei-chan! It was mostly Haru-chan, Mako-chan, and Rin-chan's idea!" he lied, the wide grin on his face betraying his words. The whole event had been nothing if not hilarious—Rei had been the only one of the two grooms to be surprised when, in the middle of making congratulatory speeches, Rin had suddenly declared that he and the other two best men would perform a song in honor of the occasion. To Rei's much greater surprise and Nagisa's glee, all three of them had stripped down to nothing but swimsuits and bow ties—for Haru and Rin, it had been done in about five seconds while they glared at each other competitively, and for Makoto, it had been done more slowly with a not-so-slightly red face and embarrassed eyes. They had then whipped microphones out of nowhere as they started singing _'Splash Free'_, complete with background music and their original choreography. Sometime during when Rei was busy gawking at his three best friends, Nagisa had also stripped down to his tie and the swim trunks he had worn underneath his tuxedo and joined the three of them, singing in a loud cheerful voice as he threw a wink at Rei from the stage.

And while the guests had started to laugh and hoot, a stupefied Rei had been whisked away by his grinning underclassmen from his high school swim club—who had somehow forced him to change into nothing but a bright yellow speedo with a penguin on it and successfully brought him back to the grove and onto the stage. Really, the brunette had been nothing short of mortified and had mostly just stood frozen and beet-red in the middle of the stage as his best men and husband danced and sang around him. During the performance, he had glimpsed some of the guests' reactions—Yamazaki who was hooting and cheering enthusiastically, Komura who was watching with an amused twinkle in his eyes, Hana who was taking pictures right and left as if she were a reporter (Rei knew his reputation was pretty much doomed now), and Gou squealing with sparkly eyes at all the muscles. The two younger Hazuki sisters had been laughing and catcalling as Natsuki also took pictures of the event, and both his mother and Mrs. Hazuki had been smiling widely as they laughed and clapped to the music. It had been bad when Rei caught sight of Ryouji's smirk from the pew as he leaned back and watched as if he were seeing the most ridiculous but amusing thing on earth. But it had definitely been worse when he had met eyes with his father, who looked just as surprised as Rei had felt, with his dark eyes wide and his mouth fallen open in slight shock. That was when Rei truly felt he wanted to dig his grave right then and there and bury himself alive—he had genuinely started to think he reached the peak of embarrassment in his life that moment.

But as it turned out, he was wrong—Rei had turned aghast when he saw his underclassmen bring out a kiddy pool full of water out of nowhere. He heard Makoto shouting at Haru as the tall man restrained his childhood friend from leaping off the stage and into the water. Meanwhile, Rin and Nagisa were singing the last few lyrics of the song, and as both of them shouted out "SPLASH FREE!" they grabbed each of Rei's arms and threw him into the kiddy pool. And _that_ had been the ultimate peak of the brunette's mortification—as he coughed in the water and struggled in the rubber pool, hastily resurfacing and gasping for breath, he had heard the guests burst into laughter as they applauded the performance. Just as he was starting to think he could start a fire with the full-body blush that hit him, Nagisa had jumped into the kiddy pool with Rei and hoisted him up by the hand. This time, the blonde had been the one to dip Rei down by the waist and plant a movie-star kiss on his surprised mouth. And after that—well, the blue-haired man had turned into just the mortified, stuttering pile of awkward teenager that Nagisa loved seeing. And as he saw Rin laughing, Makoto looking embarrassed but smiling fondly, and Haru's eyes seeing nothing but the water in the kiddy pool as he was still being restrained by the tall brunette, Rei had still wanted to disappear off the face of the earth. But after a while, it had been something like touching for the brunette, when he thought of how his best friends had planned the whole thing out to congratulate him and Nagisa.

Of course, Nagisa had also planned this out with them. And Rei had been the only one of the five to not know about it. And even now during the reception, as he danced with his husband in the parlor, Rei was not any less embarrassed about what had happened. The brunette gave Nagisa a pointed look as his face showed no sign of cooling down anytime soon.

"You absolutely _did_ plan it all out with them," he said accusingly. "I know that look when I see it—you are absolutely, positively _100% guilty_ of what happened, Nagisa-kun! I mean, that speedo was _yours,_ the one that you lent to me back when I first joined the swim club!" At this accurate observation, his husband only laughed harder, momentarily slipping out of Rei's arms to double over, clutching his stomach with his hands as he did.

"Ahahahahaha—it was totally hilarious how nervous you were, Rei-chan! You should've seen your face—ahahahahahaha!" As his laughter rang through the parlor, some of the guests cast them curious looks as they danced around the two husbands—most of them smiling at them before returning to their dance. Feeling their stares, Rei's ears turned an extra dark shade of beet-red as he began sputtering.

"Nagisa-kun! This is absolutely not funny at all! I mean, this was our _wedding,_ everyone _saw_—" He shuddered to think what his next dinner with his parents and Nagisa would be like, after the two of them returned from their honeymoon. "Why on earth would you have done something like tha—"

"Isn't it obvious why?" Perking up, Nagisa smiled brightly—and the smile turned devious as his eyes lidded in a way that _still_ made Rei gulp and want to do unspeakable things to the blonde at a not-so-appropriate moment for said things. Leaning up next to the brunette's ear, the older man whispered, "It's because _I_ wanted to see _you_ in a speedo, of course." The seductive voice sent shivers down Rei's spine as his face erupted into flames at the blonde's honesty. Drawing back with an innocent smile, Nagisa chirped, "It's been too long since I saw you wearing one, you know?" And to the blonde's delight, that last added statement was enough to draw out the stuttering pile of awkward teenager in his flushing husband once again.

"Nagisa—th-that is—you are just—" After wringing his hands slightly, Rei gave up and dropped his head in defeat, ears a very vibrant red. "This is _so embarrassing—"_ Seeing the brunette all flustered made something soften in Nagisa's heart. The blonde's burgundy eyes took on a captivated look as he leaned up and cupped Rei's cheek in one hand.

"But I absolutely _adore_ you when you're embarrassed, you know?" he said softly. "I always get the urge to kiss you on the spot when you do." For a moment, Rei was at a loss for words as he met Nagisa's large burgundy eyes, eyes that always reminded him of maple leaves in the fall, which were shining with unconcealed fondness behind their long blonde lashes. Opening his lips slightly, the brunette responded with the only three words he could think of at the moment.

"I love you." Rei's voice was a loving whisper as he gazed into those eyes, in which he saw the whole world. And although it wasn't the first time Nagisa heard those words from the brunette, they struck a chord in him as they always did, sending a series of warm flutters through his heart. The blonde's entire face glowed with a smile that took Rei's breath away.

"I love you, too." Nagisa's voice was also quiet, but just as earnest, his cheeks tinged with a rosy blush.

Rei leaned down, gently cupping Nagisa's cheek in one hand, and sealed the blonde's soft lips with his own in a tender kiss. And for that uninterrupted moment, as the leaves of the maple trees danced in the evening breeze and the moon shone gently overhead in the sky, both of them felt as if they held the world in their hands.

When they broke apart, they met each other's eyes and both of them let out a few happy laughs. They then started dancing again, and had been swaying together for a few minutes when Nagisa felt a hand tap him on the shoulder.

"May I have a dance?" a voice asked from behind him. Nagisa and Rei turned to see a light-haired man with tanned skin and a tall build—he looked to be about the same height as Rei, maybe even a little taller. Both of them thought that he seemed familiar—but neither of them could remember if there had been anyone like this person on the guest list. The angle of his face made it so his bangs were falling over his eyes, and the husbands could not place a finger on what it was about the man that struck the nostalgic feeling that suddenly appeared in their hearts. But at the moment, the person was extending his hand, and Nagisa did not want to be rude and refuse a guest who had come to their wedding. So for the moment, he exchanged a look with Rei before smiling politely at the stranger and nodding.

"Sure!" Winking at Rei, the blonde said cheerfully, "Don't let your eyes wander while I'm gone, Rei-chan!" At this, the brunette blushed, drawing back from Nagisa as the blonde went to dance with the guest. But almost as soon as he did, Rei started to worry a little. Although the person had seemed familiar, it seemed that Nagisa did not recognize who he was either—had he been right in letting the stranger cut in during their dance? As a feeling of nervousness and a little bit of suspiciousness settled in him, he kept his violet eyes on his husband and the guest as they began to dance together.

Meanwhile, Nagisa was going through his head, trying to figure out who the guest was. It didn't help that the man's hair was falling over his face—he could not get a clear view of the man's eyes as he tried not to stare too obviously, only glancing now and then at the stranger's face for what he hoped was a polite amount of time. But after he still had no luck with identifying the person, Nagisa wondered if he should just straight-up ask who he was. Before he could, however, the stranger opened his mouth.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Hazuki-san?" There was that familiar voice again—Nagisa almost frowned as he was trying to figure out where he had heard it before. "I wasn't present at the ceremony because I arrived late today, but I heard from the other guests that it was fun. Congratulations on getting married!"

"Ah, uhm, thank you!" Nagisa replied, as his head spun. "Actually, I'm Ryuugazaki Nagisa now—although I'm still also a Hazuki, of course!" he added, with a grin.

"Oh, you took your husband's surname? I apologize for the mistake, Ryuugazaki-san, I didn't consider that factor just now."

"Oh, it's all right!" A rosy glow tinted the blonde's cheeks as he heard himself being referred to by his new surname for the first time that day. It reminded him of how he and Rei had discussed about whether or not to take each other's surnames one afternoon. In the living room of the yellow house, Nagisa had firmly declared that he wanted to take Rei's name—he had been quite set on doing so from the start. He had promised that he would never leave Rei alone again, and as proof that he would belong to Rei for life, the blonde had insisted on having the same surname as the younger man. Now he was half a Ryuugazaki, as well as half a Hazuki—and he was proud to show off the fact. "It's only been a few hours since we got married, so I understand!" The guest smiled as his stare wandered over to the blue-haired man, who he caught watching them as he leaned against a wall nearby. Seeming flustered by the eye contact, the brunette immediately turned his head away, blushing slightly in embarrassment. Chuckling in his head, the stranger returned his attention to Nagisa and opened his mouth.

"I always thought Rei-kun might take your surname instead—after all, he was already completely infatuated with you the last time I saw him." Nagisa's eyes widened a little as he heard Rei's first name slip so casually from the guest's lips. "I mean, he got jealous so easily that time when you hugged me in the hospital. It was kind of cute, really, seeing him get that frown on his face after you left!" At the stranger's words, Nagisa blinked as his burgundy orbs grew wider. Had he just mentioned a hospital? As his thoughts were racing, the stranger went on in a slight undertone. "And actually, he's looking at us right now—he looked a little worried there for a moment." A mischievous smile graced the stranger's lips as he leaned over next to Nagisa's ear and whispered his next words in it.

"Say, Ryuugazaki-san. Would you like to test your husband a little?" Nagisa blinked in surprise—before he could even respond to the question, the stranger suddenly took him by the waist and dipped him low, bringing his face close to his…

"Excuse me, sir—just what are you doing to my husband?" As Rei's stiff voice sounded from behind them, both Nagisa and the stranger straightened up—the blonde still looking surprised and his cheeks faintly pink as his husband grabbed him by the hand and tugged him to his side away from the guest. "I would appreciate it if you were not so forward with him—"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The stranger let out a light laugh as he pushed his bangs to one side while putting up his other hand in apology. "I was only catching up on old times with Nagisa-san—I apologize if I made you misunderstand." The grey, almond-shaped eyes that were finally revealed were twinkling, and as Rei and Nagisa saw them, their mouths dropped open and their own eyes started to grow in size. "I've been living abroad for quite a while now, so it seems that the liberal culture there has been infused into my behavior!" As another round of laughter escaped from the man's thin lips, it clicked first for Nagisa.

"…Oh my god…!" His burgundy eyes wavered in awe as he looked at the man before him. "I can't believe it…it's you…!" A bright smile spread across his face as his eyes started to fill a little with tears. "You're back…you're finally back…!" At the blonde's words, the guest gave him a smile tinged with a bit of boyishness.

"Finally, you recognized me. You were making me sweat a little when I started thinking you wouldn't at all!" His twinkling grey eyes then turned to Rei, who he also grinned at. "It's been a long eleven years, Rei-kun!" His smile was wide and dazzling as he said his next words.

"As you said, the world outside has been really beautiful!"

And then, it finally clicked for Rei as well.

"…_Yuuto_…?" The name fell from Rei's lips like a memento that had been dug up from his childhood, as if he was summoning memories from the past and laying them out in the present. "Oh god…it's you…it really _is_ you…!" His violet eyes grew even wider, if that was possible. "You're _here_…but _how_…how did you…I lost contact with you…I mean, after _all_ this time…!" Seeing the surprise and disbelief in his old friend's face made Saionji Yuuto's eyes twinkle.

"Of course. I could hardly miss my precious friend's wedding in its entirety!" He grinned cheerfully at the brunette, who had also started to tear up. "Although I did miss the ceremony—sorry about that, my plane was a little late coming in. But I'm here no—" Before he could finish, the light-haired man felt two pairs of arms throw themselves around him. His grey eyes widened as both Rei and Nagisa started sobbing and attacking him with an onslaught of words.

"You're back…! You're finally back…!" "Thank God, you look so well now—and so tan!" "You were all right in America, right? You had fun all those years, right?" "Did you become a marine biologist like you always wanted to? What took you so long to contact us?" "I can't believe it, Rei-chan—I really can't believe it…!" As the two men were babbling like children, Yuuto also got a few tears in his eyes.

"Yeah—I'm finally home…!" He smiled at his friends from the past, his grey eyes glistening. "Congratulations, you two—I really hope you guys are happy together..!"

As the couple continued to sob through the fateful reunion, a white butterfly flew into the distance, its wings fluttering under the light of the moon as it shone on the world in the dark sky.

* * *

They went to the British Isles for their honeymoon, where it was known that a population of Purple Emperors dwelled in the woodlands. And although they were tired and had some scrapes and dirt on them by the end of the day, they had been happy to see so many butterflies of the species that they had only ever seen in an old picture encyclopedia of bugs. It had been beautiful, the sunlight that filtered through the treetops and illuminated the wings of the butterflies, making them glow an iridescent purple. And Nagisa had been absolutely delighted when one of the butterflies landed on his finger—thankfully, Rei had a camera at hand and was able to take a snapshot of the moment. The photo was later put in a picture frame and placed on their bedside table next to another photo, in which another purple butterfly had landed on Rei's glasses, to the brunette's apparent surprise.

The two weeks that they spent in the isles passed by in a vibrantly happy flash. Soon, they were back home, standing on the porch in front of the yellow house that Mr. and Mrs. Hazuki had decided to give to them. At the moment, Nagisa had a triumphant smile on his face as he held a flustered Rei in a princess hold in his arms. His violet eyes furtively glancing around, the younger man's cheeks were beet-red as he sputtered at his husband.

"Nagisa-kun, put me down! The neighbors could be watching—"

"Nope! If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do it right!" Although the blonde had to admit that Rei was a little heavy, he stifled his grunts as he reached out with a hand and swung open the front door. "All right, now—stepping over the threshold!" he announced loudly in a sing-song voice as he dramatically carried Rei over the porch and into the _genkan_. "Tada!" It was only then that he let his husband down, and as the brunette fell to his feet in relief, he turned a pink face towards the blonde.

"_'Tada'_—really, Nagisa-kun, you're making too much of a fuss!" he protested in embarrassment. "We've been living here together for years—"

"But that and this aren't the same!" the blonde piped up. "Or what—you think being and not being married are the same things?" Seeing the blonde pout, Rei quickly opened his mouth.

"Of _course_ not—that is _not_ what I meant at all!" he said, feeling flustered. "It's just, we're in our late twenties, and we've known each other for years, and there's really no need to—" He was cut off mid-sentence when Nagisa pulled him down by the collar and silenced his lips with his own. Drawing back with sparkling burgundy eyes, the blonde smiled up at Rei, the searing grin sending flutters through Rei's heart.

"We're home now, Rei." His voice sounded happy. _"Our_ home!" Seeing his husband glowing with happiness made Rei smile gently as well.

"You're right. It's _our_ home." For the millionth time, he felt grateful to the Hazukis for giving their house to them—he felt that he would not be able to thank them enough even if he thanked them over and over for the rest of his life. And for the zillionth time, he felt even more grateful to have Nagisa by his side—the person who was home itself to Rei, who he felt that he could not cherish enough even if he had multiple lifetimes to do so. But he was determined to try, and as the younger man pressed another kiss to Nagisa's lips, he heard the blonde giggle in pleasure as he melted into Rei's arms.

"Say, Rei-chan, wanna go to our room?" By _'our room'_, the blonde meant his bedroom, which they would make over into a bedroom for two. "Let's go look at your favorite tree!" Rei's lips curved up in a fond smile as he nodded.

Minutes later, they were seated in front of the window in the bedroom, leaning against each others' shoulders as they took in the view outside. They watched the maple tree that had stood in the Hazukis' yard for years—its elegantly rising trunk, gracefully winding branches, the crimson and orange and golden leaves dancing in the afternoon breeze. His burgundy eyes reminiscent, Nagisa squeezed Rei's hand, which was intertwined with his own on the floor.

"It's still the same view as seventeen years ago," he murmured as his eyes wandered over the tree, down to his yard, over the fence, and to the lavender house next door—where the window of Rei's bedroom seemed to stare back at him. "Except I haven't seen you at that window in a long while." When Nagisa pointed this out, Rei laughed a little next to him.

"Would you like me to go back over there?" he teased the blonde—who made a face at his husband.

"Of course not, silly! I'd much rather have you here, right next to me—you know it!" As he nuzzled his head against Rei's side, the younger man laughed again.

"It might be kind of romantic—something like a scene out of Romeo and Juliet. And you have quite the unexpected soft spot for those kinds of things, Nagisa." At this comment, the blonde flushed a little as he made a face at Rei.

"Don't compare us to them—there's no way I want us to end up like those two!" Leaning back against Rei's side, the blonde thought about it. "Does that mean I'd be Romeo, then? I did climb that tree once to get you to come out—though I wasn't exactly Mr. Handsome proposing back then." He giggled, eyes softening with nostalgia as he remembered his ten-year-old self braving the height of the tree, clumsily scooting forward on the branch and extending his hand out to a younger Rei.

"…Are you implying that I'd be Juliet, then?" Rei sighed. "Well, regardless of that—I'll admit that I do miss the conversations we used to have through our windows." His smile was tinged with a little longing as he thought of those days, which had already become brilliant jewels in his memory. Eleven years could go by so fast, as he was finding out, especially when he was spending them at Nagisa's side.

"Hmm—I suppose you could pop over there now and then, if that's what you're missing," Nagisa offered, albeit a little grudgingly but with a grin on his face. "But I definitely wouldn't let you stay there for too long!" He turned to look at Rei, those burgundy eyes glowing like iridescent autumn leaves with sunlight shining on them, a soft smile on his face.

"I'd drag you out over and over again, if that's what it takes to keep you by my side." At this comment, Rei felt his heart melt yet again—the fondness in his violet eyes grew as he gave the blonde a smile that Nagisa found absolutely dazzling.

"You wouldn't have to—I'd come back on my own. Over and over again," he said softly, repeating Nagisa's words. What he said made the blonde's burgundy eyes widen—then return Rei's smile by tenfold, his face glowing with unconcealed adoration and bliss.

"Let's be happy together, Rei-chan." He gently squeezed Rei's hand in his own. "No matter what." Rei smiled as he squeezed the blonde's hand back.

"Absolutely." And the word he murmured back was every bit true.

Sitting in the room a few feet away from the couple was Nagisa's bedside table. On its surface sat recent photos of the two of them at the wedding, along with older photos from their years of living together, as well as a couple from their high school years. There were also two photos of their younger selves as children—they had been placed side by side so it looked like their adolescent selves were facing each other. These photos were later joined by the photos they took at the British Isles—and a little afterwards, one that they took of themselves smiling in the yellow house after coming home from their honeymoon.

Next to that particular photo stood the globe with the silver figure of a penguin with a butterfly perched on his beak, with the red leaf-shaped sparkles gathered at the bottom. Later that evening, Rei picked up the globe and gave it a shake, his eyes reminiscent as he watched the miniature leaves drift inside the glass. He then looked outside the bedroom window at the maple tree, seeing in his imagination a ten-year-old boy with golden-blonde locks, a round face, and overflowing burgundy eyes perched on one of the branches, his smile full of crooked teeth brightening the scenery outside. He also imagined his ten-year-old self sitting on a branch, a book propped open on his lap and a quiet smile on his face as his violet eyes wandered from the pages towards the blonde. And as he heard his name being called, turned around to see the blonde man standing in the doorway with a bright smile on his face, the brunette returned the smile with a loving one of his own.

Whether it was behind or outside the glass, Rei knew then, the world between them would always be beautiful—as long as they were together.

_-Fin._

* * *

And it has really come to an end! *starts pulling out the tissue box*

First of all, I'm sorry that this chapter was late. I said it would take about a week, but as it turned out, there was an onslaught of school assignments that turned up out of nowhere, so this last chapter came out in small bits at a time ;v; It drove me crazy that I couldn't write extensively in one setting at a time, and although I finally had free time this weekend to continuously write about half of it, I hope that the content didn't seem too choppy. Thank you for waiting to read this chapter! I'm not really sure if I'm satisfied with how it turned out. Since it was _the_ last chapter, I hesitated a lot about what I should put in and what I should take out. But I hope you still enjoyed it! If you guys have anything you are confused or curious about that wasn't answered through this last chapter, feel free to leave questions or comments! :)

Though I don't know if I did the whole story justice with this ending, it makes me happy that you guys saw the story to its finale. Like with The Window, I had a really good time writing all these drabbles, and I was thrilled with the continued interest and support from you guys. I can't say this enough, but thank you so much for reading this fanfic! It's been a really great experience sharing my writing with so many people, which I haven't really done before this series, so it means a lot to me that my readers enjoyed the story. *fills a river with tears* Knowing how much fun I've had writing Reigisa, I will definitely be back with more of them in the future, and probably with some other pairings as well ^^. I'm already smiling at just the thought of it hehe x3

Looking back on it, I can't believe this extensive fic all started from a random impulse I had during summer break. But I'm super glad now that it came. Again, for everyone who read my story, thank you so much! See you guys again soon! ;)


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